Pre-Primary Act suspension is "illegal"

MUMBAI, June 17: The president of the Forum for Fairness in Education has termed the state government’s move to suspend the Pre-School Act for a year as an "illegal retraction".

In a letter to Manohar Joshi, education minister Sudhir Joshi, secretary, school education, Dr Rameshchandra Kanade and deputy secretary S P Joshi, the Forum stated: "…The government is illegally retracting the Act, which was passed unanimously by both houses of the legislature. While several private institutions have been openly violating the Act, the statement by the highest functionary of the government amounts to tacit assurance of impunity. It appears that Catholic institutions have not started the admissions because they want a total lifting of the Act and they apparently believe that admissions under present conditions would be against the Act and will attract criminal proceedings."

Citing from Wednesday’s Newsline report, the Forum said the CM’s quote openly calls for violation of the Act when the matter issub-judice.