The Odisha Government has asked the District Education Officers (DEOs) to take action against the schools lacking certificate of recognition (CoR) and issue show cause notice for their closure. School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash told the Assembly recently that private English medium schools not having the CoR will face action and the DEOs have been issued instructions to take steps in this regard.
As per the statistics of the School and Mass Education (SME) department, around 39 per cent private English medium schools at the elementary-level in Odisha have not obtained CoR from the State government.
Odisha has 1,969 private English medium schools where education is imparted to students from Class I to VIII. However, only 1,204 of these schools have obtained CoR, while the remaining 765 are yet to be recognised. Similarly, only 389 private schools at secondary level (Class IX and X) have received their CoR though the number of such schools in the State is more than 1,000.
This has left parents worried as the State government has clarified that schools lacking CoR cannot send their students for admission to Navodaya or Adarsh Vidyalayas. As per government norms, students of schools that do not have CoR would not be able to get admission to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas or Adarsh Vidyalayas under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota.
Members of the Abhibhabak Mahasangh said that though Odisha has a total 6,767 private schools identified by the SME department, only 2,531 had obtained NOC to function. Schools not having the CoR and NOC must face action, members of the Mahasangh demanded.
