The schools would be
opened at the existing municipal schools located near Tapovan temple in
Pimprigaon and the other at Kasarwadi. They will be jointly run by the
school board and Akanksha Foundation of Thermax Limited, said Vijay Lokhande, chairman, PCMC school board.

The board runs 136 schools where students from slums and poor families
study. More than 90% of these schools have Marathi as the medium of
teaching. However, there is a growing demand from parents for English
medium schools.

“Some parents from poor background are trying
to get their children admitted to private English medium schools, but
fees in such schools are unaffordable. So, a need was being felt for
English medium municipal school,” Lokhande said.

“In Pimprigaon
and nearby areas of Pimpri, there are several reputed English medium
schools, but the fees in these schools are too high. Also, the number of
seats in such schools is limited. Same is the case with schools in
Kasarwadi and nearby areas,” he said.

Students will not have
to pay fees to study in the new English medium schools, while the school
board will provide the education material. The Akanksha Foundation
would recruit teachers for the schools and pay their salaries. To start
with, the schools will have three divisions each of lower kindergarten
and upper kindergarten. Each division will have 40 students and one
teacher will be appointed for each division, which is as per the norms
of Right To Education Act, Lokhande said.

Administration
officer of the primary education department, Ashok Bhosale, said, “The
school board will make available separate buildings at the two places
for the new schools. Students attending classes in the existing
buildings will be shifted to nearby municipal schools”.

The
PCMC is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the
foundation in this regard. The proposal will be tabled in the civic
general body meeting on March 20, for its approval.