August 28, 2010

A victory to Parents

Today is a day of pride for every parent in Andhra Pradesh in particular & to many parents across India. You’re very well aware of the fact that Hyderabad Schools Parents Association (HSPA) the apex body (formed by Parents Associations of various schools in Greater Hyderabad. HSPA today has supporters from over 46 schools from across the segments & affiliated to boards like CBSE, ICSE, IB & State Board) for parents across, has taken up the fight against commercialization in education & you always supported in various forms in taking up activities for rightful demands of parents for over an year now.

We successfully managed to get GoAPs support under leadership of our ex CM Late Dr YS Rajashekar Reddy a GO (MS91) to safe guard the interests for which we were on roads many a times. Due to various reasons, this GO didn’t see proper light & has been suspended by HC of AP due to the cases filed by many school managements, which turned out to be big setback for our struggle. The battle field moved to High Court once again in April, 2010. This time over 20schools came forward & filed writs against AP Government & challenged the GO MS91, which was argued for over 6days by over 20 odd lawyers (read as senior counsels). HSPA had support from a legal team headed by Sri CV Mohan Reddy, Sri S Srinivas & Sri DV Siva Prasad to take on the mammoth fight against power, money & what not ?

This morning the same bench (Justice G Raghuram & Justice Naushad Ali) has passed a historic judgment upholding the GO MS91 with their suggestions to change modify for betterment of this society. Brief details of the same are as below

» State has the power to regulate fee structure of private schools
» GO MS-91 is not illegal (which means it stays valid and in force)
» Capitation fee act of 1983 applies in full force to private schools also
» Para 3 & 4 are quashed
» Para 5(2) is quashed
» Para 6 is quashed
» Para 1c(4) is quashed
» Para 1c(6) is illegal
» Para 1b stands valid and is not interfered with

This is no less a historic win to all of us & we wouldn’t have been today with this joy & pleasure if not for your support. However mind you, the fight is still on & we now need to put pressure on government to come out clean once again, make the committee (Navin Mittal committee) sit down discuss with all the parties & come out with a scientific formula which would make sure schools would not get into profiteering as has been their habit over years now.

Time is now to get it right or atleast a step towards that. Are you game for it?

When the protests started early last year (2009), none of the parents or parent associations who were leading, had an idea as to how to achieve what is required. But the attitude of them, focus & enormous support from across, brought us all together. Now were just a few inches away to reach our goal, let’s unite with more vigor & push for our rightful demand, for a better society tomorrow.

It’s your victory, spread & share with all your contacts.
Hyderabad Schools Parents Association
A Federation of All Greater Hyderabad Schools’ Parents Associations
Committed to curb commercialization of Education!!
How long can YOU continue to absorb Yearly Fee-hike??

August 07, 2010

CIC: Private schools too under RTI act

NEW DELHI: Private recognized schools cannot claim exemption from disclosing information to Education Directorate under Right to Information Act, a full bench of the Central Information Commission (CIC) has held, thus virtually bringing them under the ambit of the transparency law.

‘‘The issues relating to management and regulation of schools responsible for promotion of education are so important for development that it cannot be left at whims and caprices of private bodies, whether funded or not by the Government,’’ the bench said in its order deciding on disclosure of service records of a teacher employed at a private school.

Bindu Khanna, a teacher at Pinnacle School at Panchsheel Enclave, had filed an RTI application with Education Directorate seeking to know her service records. But despite orders of the Directorate to provide the details, the school maintained that it was a private body and hence outside RTI purview. It cited sections of the law which exempt the disclosure of personal information.

The Commission said various clauses of Delhi School Education Rules, 1973 say that ‘‘all records’’ of a private recognized school are open to inspection by any officer authorized by the Director or the appropriate authority at any time.

The records provided to education department by the schools can be accessed by an RTI applicant, it said. ‘‘Information which a public authority is entitled to access, under any law, from private body, is ‘information’ as defined under Section 2(f) of the RTI Act and has to be furnished,’’ the Commission said in its order rejecting the claims of the school. Quoting a high court order in this regard, the bench said the term ‘third party’ includes not only the public authority but also any private body.