Cell to tackle donation plaints

But he feels parents and students are still reluctant to come forward with specific complaints, fearing the concerned school or college may try to get even with them later. “I’m always ready to hear problems and take action against schools and colleges which accept donations, but most of the time parents come to us only with admission requests,” he said. “Nobody wants to talk about donations, even if the racket may be rampant.”

Education officials at the deputy director’s office said they would also be despatching a circular to all institutes in Mumbai, warning them against taking donations.

Butobservers pointed out this is merely an annual exercise during the admission season, when the state quotes the Anti-Capitation Fee Act (1987) in the circular, but most schools ignore it.

Deshmukh disagreed. “Last year, the state had booked three major schools in Thane namely A K Joshi Vidyalaya, Saraswati Education Society’s School (Panchpakhadi) and Saraswathi High School (Rabodi) for taking donations amounting to a total of over Rs 2.8 crore,” he said, adding it wouldn’t have been possible if parents in Thane hadn’t come forward. However, the process of recovering donation money is rather slow, as the three schools have so far only given bank guarantees that they will repay the amount later.

Even the ACB admitted it would be helpless if people didn’t come forward. ACB’s deputy additional commissioner B G Parab said: “Last year we had only four cases of educational malpractices. This year we already have two, but unless the psyche of parents and students changes, police can’t do anything.”

Butparents seem to be having their own prerogatives. “If I can give my child good education by paying a donation amount of around Rs 5,000, what’s the harm? After all, nothing comes for free these days,” said one parent from Ghatkopar. By paying donation, he has already admitted his ward at an English medium school in Ghatkopar, though his monthly income is only Rs 4,500.

The asking rate in various suburban schools is anything from Rs 3,000 to Rs 20,000, going by the status of the school and of the parents.

Another area where schools have flouted the Pre-Primary Act is in conducting tests and interviews for admissions to KG. Recently, a parent of a KG candidate complained to this paper that a reputed convent school in south Mumbai didn’t admit her child though he had performed well during the interview. The parent knew it was illegal for schools to interview children for pre-primary admissions, but she kept mum then as she was hopeful her child would be admitted.