The Forum for Fairness in Education (FFE) has demanded that the government ask all private schools to disclose information about their academic and administrative activities in order to bring in more transparency and accountability of such schools. The demand is been made following a Delhi high court order that has directed all private schools in the capital to make records, including admission details, available in public domain.
According to the order, private schools will also come under the purview of the Right to Information Act.
Lauding the Delhi HC order, Jayant Jain, president of FFE said, “Private schools have been hoodwinking the authorities for a very long time. By upholding the Central Information Commission’s December 2010 order, directing schools to make their records public in both English and Hindi, is a step in the right direction.”
The order was passed by Justice Rajiv Shakdher on a petition filed by the Delhi State Public Schools Management Association against the CIC order. “The court upheld the CIC order and ruled that the schools will be covered under the Right to Information Act. This is a major development and will ensure transparency in the functioning of private schools,” said Mr Jain. As per the order schools will now have to make public their admission details, such as the number of seats in all classes, total vacancies, number of seats under the economically weaker section quota and total applications received under this category. The schools have been directed to update the information on their notice boards and also upload details on the Directorate of Education’s website.
“The forum has already written to the education director’s office, but is yet to receive any response,” said Mr Jain.
While N.B. Chavan, deputy director (education) was unavailable for comment, an official from his office said that they were yet to receive the forum’s letter. “The request will be forwarded to the education minister’s office for further instructions,” he said.