Aided schools face closure, SOS sent

NEW DELHI, June 10: Several aided schools are on the verge of closing down because of a fund crunch. Deputy Mayor Mahesh Chand Sharma tod...

NEW DELHI, June 10: Several aided schools are on the verge of closing down because of a fund crunch. Deputy Mayor Mahesh Chand Sharma today demanded that their grant be increased from 95 to 98 per cent. He put forward his demand in a letter to the Lieutenant Governor.

8220;Aided schools have an important role to play,8221; he said. 8220;And their closure would mean that many students from the middle classes and the lower strata of society will be deprived of primary education,8221; he added.

Sharma said aided schools were not commercialised. But they have not been able to fight off the stiff competition 8212; that the increasing number of public schools are proving to be. The management of aided schools is finding it tough to meet the financial demands. 8220;Consequent to the implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission, they now also have to pay increased salaries to their staff of teachers. In many cases, the managements have refused to pay even five per cent of the salary amount,8221; he said.

He cited the example of two aided-schools 8212; Jan Kalyan, Bhajanpura and Bansal School, Asaf Ali Road 8212; which had closed down and of two others 8212; Anglo-Sanskrit and Ramjas School, Ballimaran 8212; which are on the verge of closure, if the government did not come forward to their rescue. 8220;It would be a great loss if Anglo-Sanskrit, which is one of the best schools in Delhi were to close down, merely for this reason,8221; he said. Sharma also demanded that the three-language formula, as provided by the Delhi School Education Act, be strictly adhered to by the public as well as recognised schools. 8220;Many schools in Delhi keep Hindi out of the syllabus, which puts the future of a lot of students in jeopardy. Hindi as a language is mandatory for recruitment of teachers,8221; he said.

As many as 4,000 application forms for the post of teachers had been rejected as the applicant did not know Hindi, he said.

Sharma added he has also sought the intervention of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Minister of Education Narendra Nath and Union Minister for HRD Murli Manohar Joshi on the aided schools issue.