OPINION: Improve standard of government schools for safe future of students

Now a day, the stress is being laid on imparting of education and it is also becoming a fountainhead to mint money. While the government schools are lacking infrastructure, the private schools are concentrating on making profits.  In fact, the government itself have made easy path for the businessmen.  In the name of education competition, the pockets of the people are being emptied.  The parents and children both are worried in this competition era and are living in number of stresses.  All the time, they are feeling annoyed on the pretext that they may not be out in the race of competition.  Multi National Companies (MNCs) are recruiting Robots because in these companies there is no place for feeling or expression of pain or sorrow.

Punjab is not free from such type of environment.  The standard of education is declining frequently.  Taking a note of this situation, the Punjab Government has ordered to close down certain schools treating them as shops of education, which are violating the fixed norms for running the schools.  Under these instructions, those 473 schools would be closed, for not following the rules of Right to Education Act.

According to Education Minister, Sikandar Singh Malooka, 37,813 students in these private schools would be provided admission in the government schools.  Some of the schools have asked for the extension to increase the basic infrastructure and they have been provided one month’s time.  In case, they do not fulfill the desired norms, they will be fined Rs.1 lakh for the first time and even after that they do not comply with the standard norms, Rs.10,000 per day fine will be recovered from them.  Only 1,935 schools, out of 9,301 private schools in Punjab, have filed the proclamation letter and 1,635 schools failed to get recognition and in this way, 1,162 schools for the recognition but the remaining 473 could not get the same.

In fact, in 2009 after the introduction of Right to Education Act, the government had ordered the closure of schools functioning in the rural areas and streets, those were running shops in the name of education. These schools were neither having their own buildings nor any basic infrastructure required to run the schools.  At that time, they were given the three months’ time but now after the expiry of this time, the Education Minister has refused to give any extension. The decision of the government is appreciable.  It is better late than never but the decision has rightly been taken.  But in case these education shops again starts coming up, the government will have to study the causes for the same.  When the people did not get the required education and basic amenities and infrastructure, in the government schools, they moved towards the private schools. 

Simultaneously, with this decision, the government should think over to improve the standard of education in the government schools. Instead of handing these schools to the private companies for making them model schools, the government should keep safe in their own hands.  By improving the standards of the schools with availability of required infra-structure, the future of the students is safe.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of City Air News.)