Even as the Opposition parties put up a strong fight, the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Wednesday approved the proposal to invite private organisations to manage municipal schools.
The proposal, which is brought in to improve the quality of education, allows private parties to appoint their own teaching staff including principals, as well as take academic and managerial decisions in municipal schools.
However, protesting the move in the standing committee, Opposition parties made allegations that the Sena-BJP combine was privatising the civic schools. Opposition leader Dnyanraj Nikam said, “Providing free primary education to all students is the BMC’s obligatory duty and it cannot absolve itself of it.”
Samajwadi Party group leader Rais Shaikh alleged that the ruling combine is hell-bent on selling civic schools to private parties.
However, additional municipal commissioner M.M. Adtani said, “We have no plans to privatise civic schools. We have strict rules to select the private organisations and they will not impose any financial burden on students.”
Following the heated discussion that lasted for two-and-a-half hours, the Sena-BJP combine approved the proposal on the basis of majority. Irate opposition members tore apart the proposal documents and staged a walkout from the committee meeting. There are at least eight lakh students who attend the civic body’s 1,167 primary and secondary schools across the city.