PMC may hand over some schools to pvt institutions
PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is likely to hand over the running of some of its schools to reputed private educational institutions, a move which is seen as the civic body's lack of confidence in the way its own school board functions.
During a debate on the school board budget on Thursday, the PMC standing committee members found that the board had not utilised as much as Rs 36 crore of the Rs 58 crore it had allocated for students in 2010-11. The allocation was part of the Rs 170 crore school board budget and was to be used for upgrading educational material and providing other basic needs.
A standing committee member told TOI that it was initially decided that the PMC talk to the managements of Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya and Hujurpaga schools to see, for a start, if they could run two municipal schools.
The standing committee members and the civic administration grilled the school board officials about the quality of education and utilisation of the budget. "The committee and the administration came to the conclusion that the school board had lost its capacity to provide quality education to the students," the committee member said.
"The situation is bad in municipal schools. Some students cannot even read the alphabet and there are no teachers who can impart quality education," he said. The PMC school board runs nearly 300 primary schools, most of which are Marathi-medium and the remaining offering education in English, Urdu, Kannada and other regional languages. The board also runs 25 secondary schools.
As many as 98,000 students study in these schools, which are the main providers of education to a vast segment of underprivileged children, especially those living in the 470-odd recognised or unrecognised slum areas spread across the 244 sq km of urban sprawl. In the recent past, the school board has been mired in a slew of controversies relating to issues like corruption, purchase of sub-standard school uniforms, inadequate infrastructure and lack of trained teachers.
"The school board has a long way to go - be it in appointing quality teachers, curbing the dropout rate or improving infrastructure. However, with political appointees on the school board, we can hardly expect a qualitative change. Even transfers and recruitment of teachers are dictated by politicians," a PMC official said, adding that the corporation spends Rs 22,000 per year on each student.
During a debate on the school board budget on Thursday, the PMC standing committee members found that the board had not utilised as much as Rs 36 crore of the Rs 58 crore it had allocated for students in 2010-11. The allocation was part of the Rs 170 crore school board budget and was to be used for upgrading educational material and providing other basic needs.
A standing committee member told TOI that it was initially decided that the PMC talk to the managements of Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya and Hujurpaga schools to see, for a start, if they could run two municipal schools.
The standing committee members and the civic administration grilled the school board officials about the quality of education and utilisation of the budget. "The committee and the administration came to the conclusion that the school board had lost its capacity to provide quality education to the students," the committee member said.
"The situation is bad in municipal schools. Some students cannot even read the alphabet and there are no teachers who can impart quality education," he said. The PMC school board runs nearly 300 primary schools, most of which are Marathi-medium and the remaining offering education in English, Urdu, Kannada and other regional languages. The board also runs 25 secondary schools.
As many as 98,000 students study in these schools, which are the main providers of education to a vast segment of underprivileged children, especially those living in the 470-odd recognised or unrecognised slum areas spread across the 244 sq km of urban sprawl. In the recent past, the school board has been mired in a slew of controversies relating to issues like corruption, purchase of sub-standard school uniforms, inadequate infrastructure and lack of trained teachers.
"The school board has a long way to go - be it in appointing quality teachers, curbing the dropout rate or improving infrastructure. However, with political appointees on the school board, we can hardly expect a qualitative change. Even transfers and recruitment of teachers are dictated by politicians," a PMC official said, adding that the corporation spends Rs 22,000 per year on each student.
