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Lucknow: An Uttar Pradesh
teachers association has alleged a nexus between at least 200
authorised and illegal private schools in Lucknow that could push
thousands of students towards a dark future.
"By concealing their status, the unrecognised, illegal schools
first enrol students. As the illegal schools are aware that their
students will not be allowed to register for board examinations,
they later transfer their students to authorised schools as part
of a deal," R.P. Mishra, state president of the Madhayamik
Shikshak Sangh (MSS), told IANS.
"The illegal schools inform the students about their status just
before the board exams. As a result, students have no option other
than to act on the directions of their school authorities," he
added.
Over 200 schools - authorised and illegal - in Lucknow have come
under the scanner following the report prepared this week by seven
teams of the Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh (MSS), a state-level body of
teachers.
The report, a copy of which is with IANS, has been handed over to
the District Inspector of Schools (DIOS) Ganesh Kumar.
"During the entire admission-to-transfer process, the students are
compelled to shell out a hefty sum for registering themselves for
Class 10 and 12 board examinations, and the profit is pocketed by
both the illegal and authorised institutions," said Mishra.
According to the report, by duping thousands of students, the 200
odd schools are estimated to generate a total of Rs.1 crore
annually.
"We would shortly come up with the exact strength of students
enrolled with the dubious institutions and other details about the
illegal business. Our ongoing exercise must have been performed by
officials of the education department. But owing to their
lethargic attitude, we ourselves decided to cleanse the education
system," said Mishra.
"There could be several such schools in others parts of the city.
If such is the condition in the state capital, you can imagine the
situation in far-flung areas of other districts of Uttar Pradesh,"
he said.
According to MSS officials, the problem is not just about the
illegal business, it's also about playing with the future of
students.
"Such dubious institutions are concerned about the future of the
students. For them, education means business. Students studying at
these institutions are not able to clear their basic concepts and
therefore they normally not only perform poor in board exams but
also lack traits to crack competitive exams," said Anil Sharma,
another MSS official.
Of the 200 odd dubious institutions mentioned in the MSS report,
there is a large number that has been permitted to run only
primary classes (Class 1-5) but operate Class 10 and Class 12 as
well.
"Without adequate resources and qualified teachers, several
schools are taking students towards a dark future," said A.K.
Awasthi, another MSS officebearer.
MSS alleged that such dubious institutions were functioning
because of the patronage of some officials of the education
department.
"Such educational institutions have not started functioning
overnight. There are several institutions that have been operating
for over five years, still no action has been taken against them,"
said Awasthi.
"If we teachers can find dubious institutions, why cannot they be
spotted by education department officials…We demand that the state
government initiate a thorough inquiry on the basis of our report
and lodge an FIR against all such educational institutions," he
said.
When certain points of the MSS report were brought to the notice
of DIOS Ganesh Kumar, he told IANS, "The matter is serious. We
will definitely initiate a thorough inquiry. I have already met
MSS officebearers in this regard."
Kumar had no answer when asked why such dubious institutions were
not hauled up by the education department officials, who claim to
carry out regular drives against unrecognised schools.
(Asit Srivastava can be contacted at asit.s@ians.in)
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