Source: The Indian Express
The Delhi government decided to take over the management of a government-aided school in Punjabi Bagh for “being arbitrary and breaking rules”, it announced Saturday. The school, on its part, said this hasn’t been communicated to them, and the government has taken voluntary donations by some parents as fees. The government said it decided to start the process of taking over the management of Swami Sivananda Memorial Secondary School under provisions of the Delhi School Education Act. As per a government statement, the decision was taken “after receiving several complaints from parents that school authorities are randomly charging extra fees…”.“In addition, the school has been failing its students and asking them to retake the same grade deliberately. Considering the complaints of parents, Delhi government constituted an inquiry committee for this matter. The committee found insufficiencies in the functioning of the school and found the issues raised by parents about the school are true. Upon presenting the report, the school management was given a chance to defend itself but they were not able to give any reasonable answers about the anomalies in its functioning,” read the statement.
The school is government-aided, meaning it is a privately managed school which receives a maintenance grant of 95% of recurring expenses from Delhi government with a provision for non-recurring grants for emergencies.
The institute’s general secretary, Ashok Rao, said the school doesn’t charge fees from students, and the issue appears to be over ‘voluntary payment’ from parents.
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