Privatisation of Gujarat’s secondary schools likely

The Chief Minister was reportedly surprised when a senior official at the meeting drew his attention to the fact that as many as 119 secondary schools out of the total 160 schools are functioning without principals, while most of the schools are in severely dilapidated condition and lacked sanitation facilities.

The meeting also noted with grave concern that at least 75 of the 160 secondary schools had been registering examination results of less than 35 per cent, as against much better performance of private schools. In 1994, the Government had privatised about 90 secondary schools, whose performance later improved considerably.

It was suggested at the meeting that the Government should hand over the schools to private trusts for a longer period up to 30 years, instead of the present five-year term, so as to provide them an opportunity to improve the functioning of the schools.

It was suggested to rationalise the functioning of the government secondary schools to encourage private managements to take them over and compete with other private schools located in the area. Similarly, those schools having less than 25 students should be closed down and their students as well as teachers could be absorbed in nearby schools.

In case the private management refuses to accept the teachers of such government schools, the teachers should be absorbed in other government schools, and the private management could be provided an option of recruiting new teachers by issuing them no-objection certificates on the lines of grant-in-aid schools.

The meeting also discussed the possibility of the outright sale of the school properties, including the building and land, to private parties after reviewing their performance for initial five years.