The recent Government Order (GO) of the School Education Department announcing that private schools will be given recognition only for three years in the future has evoked mixed responses from private schools management and teachers.
While some feel the move will help in ensuring better safety and management of schools, some others feel the tedious process of getting recognition every three years would make the school management suffer. "To get recognition in every three years, you have to do so much paperwork which is quite tedious and tiring. From safety to sanitation, you have to get so many clearances and a lot of time will get wasted in the process, " said the principal of a private school in Chennai.
"The government can instead conduct an inspection after a certain stipulated time frame and if the officials find any fault, they can reject the recognition," suggested the principal of another Chennai-based school. Management of small schools claimed that they would be more affected as they did not have a big administrative team to take care of all the clearances. "Even if our infrastructure is good and we have all norms in place, we have to do a lot of paperwork to get the approval," said an official of a private school.
The School Education Department issued the GO as after the issuance of the order to permanently recognise private schools, a number of incidents took place concerning school buildings and classrooms infrastructure of schools, endangering the safety of the children.
Supporting the order, Tamil Nadu Teachers' Association president P K Ilamaran said, "It is necessary to give recognition every three years as in this duration, infrastructure in many schools deteriorate and they don't bother to fix them."
The order said as regards to the private schools, which have already been granted permanent recognition, shall continue to have that recognition. The schools that are permanently recognised should furnish the certificate and duly renew it. Failing to submit the certificates will entail withdrawal of permanent recognition, added the order.
