Maharashtra: Stern rules to tackle school admission irregularities

Mumbai: To tackle irregularities in school admissions, the State Government on Friday issued strict guidelines wherein the School Management Committee will be rechristened Admission Monitoring Committee, with the mandate to control and watch admissions.

The Government Resolution (GR) was issued by the Department of School Education and Sports joint secretary IM Kazi. The trigger was the case in Beed district where a school management, in nexus with the school education officer, misappropriated lakhs of rupees from various schemes by showing bogus muster of students.

A committee was formed under the chairmanship of retired judge PV Hardas following the judgement in the case by the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court. The guidelines were released based on the committee’s recommendations.

While giving admission, the school should collect two copies of admission forms from parents bearing their signatures, photographs (also student’s), and Aadhaar cards. One copy each will be given to the head of the centre and to the monitoring committee. Physical verification of the students will be carried out by the education officer/ superintendent/ group education officer/ centre head twice in a year. The school would also submit attendance records of students every month.

In case of irregularities, an FIR should be registered with the police and an inquiry should be conducted within a month. The officers mentioned would also have the right to confiscate registers and certificates of the educational institution concerned. Misconduct would also lead to the Director of Education submitting to the State Government a proposal to withdraw the subsidy to the institution.

Published on: Friday, January 27, 2023, 10:30 PM IST