Stung by the cold shoulder response from experienced educational institutions to the expression of interest (EOI) floated by the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) to run its first Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)- affiliated school, Shiv Sena legislator Pratap Sarnaik has asked the civic administration to run the school on its own.
In his letter to the civic chief, the legislator who has been following up with the civic administration and state government authorities has stated that the CBSE school is the need of the hour and if private organisations have not shown their interest, the MBMC should take the initiative to run the school on its own by recruiting well qualified teaching and non teaching staff on a contractual basis.
When contacted, civic chief Sanjay Katkar said, “We had floated an expression of interest (EOI) for experienced institutions to run our CBSE facility. Unfortunately none have come forward yet. We are contemplating other alternatives to start the school as soon as possible."
Poor children have right to access CBSE, ICSE syllabus, says Sarnaik
"Children coming from economically weaker sections of the society have a right to access CBSE, ICSE syllabus, but due to the astronomical fees they are left deprived. We cannot offer lame excuses like fund crunch as issues such as public sanitation, education, and health cannot be neglected on the grounds of expenditure,” said Sarnaik while insisting that the school with Marathi language as compulsory subject should start functioning before the upcoming new academic year.
Building ready to run the school
Notably, a ground plus five storeyed school building in the Indralok area of Bhayandar (east) is ready for the purpose. The possession of the school building has been handed over by the builder free-of-cost to the civic body in exchange of development rights certificate (DRC). Moreover, necessary changes were incorporated in the original plan and additional ground space was added to ensure that the proposal for procuring affiliation met the infrastructural guidelines and standards specified for starting the CBSE school which will offer free education to children from kindergarten to class IV in the initial stage as higher grades will be added every year.
