Mumbai, July 16 (IANS) State Minister of School Education Dadaji Bhuse on Wednesday admitted in the Assembly that it was partially true that unauthorised schools were currently functioning in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra without government approval.

The minister, in a written reply to a question raised by member Bhaskar Jadhav in connection with the functioning of unauthorised schools, said the punitive action has been taken against 103 of the total 420 unauthorised schools from the Mumbai region. The criminal offence has been registered against 126 such schools, while 47 unauthorised schools have been closed down.

In the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation area, a total of 1,057 grant and non-grant schools are currently functioning as per the approval given by the civic body’s education committee from time to time, he said.

The minister said that of the 1,057 schools, 218 schools had not taken permission in 2022 for renewal or continuation of the renewal certificate. Currently, of the 218 schools, 211 have been granted permission under the Right to Education (RTE), while seven schools have been closed.

Minister Bhuse said the government has periodically issued directives for taking action against unauthorised schools.

The government proposes to initiate action against such unauthorised schools functioning before and after 2013 for non-compliance with the government decision dated March 10, 2010 and under the Unauthorised Schools and Maharashtra Self-Financed Schools (Establishment and Regulation) Rules 2012.

In addition, the government has instructed to close down such unauthorised schools not comply with the necessary criteria. However, the instructions have also been issued to accommodate students from such unauthorised schools in the nearby schools to avoid loss to them.

The minister said the government has received a proposal from the School Education Commissioner to close down 85 unauthorised schools in the BMC area. The proposal is under the government’s consideration.

Meanwhile, Industry Minister Uday Samant, in his reply to a calling attention motion moved by member Mahesh Sawant, said that instructions will be given to the BMC administration to provide funds for the Mahim Mori Road Municipal School building in the G/North zone of the civic body.

Minister Samant said the Mahim Mori Road Municipal School in the G/North zone of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was a 4-storey building with a ground floor and three floors. This building was inspected on September 28, 2020, and the school building was classified as C-1 (dangerous building). After that, the school building was evicted.

He said the proposal for the reconstruction of this school was being sent for approval to the Mumbai Fire Brigade and Building Proposals (Special Cell), and this work has been planned to be undertaken in the financial year 2025-2026. The total enrollment of the four schools in the Mahi Mori Road Municipal School building in the year 2019-20 was 1,568. As this school building was vacated, both Mahim Mori Road Urdu schools, number one and two, were shifted to the R.C. Church Mahim school building. He also said that the remaining Marathi and English schools have been shifted to the New Mahim Municipal School.

–IANS

sj/dpb