Gross negligence of Education department in issuing NOC to schools run as religious minority institutions: SCPCR
Wednesday, 21 December 2022 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Most of the schools opened and administered across the State in the name of religious minorities get No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Education department without any proper enquiry or inspection. Parents and young children have to bear the consequences of such gross negligence of the department.
The chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) Geeta Khanna stated this in a meeting of the commission on Tuesday. She said that the meeting was held at an emergency level considering several complaints sent by parents to the commission against various schools and educational institutions in the past one month. She said that several private schools and coaching institutes are running huge scams in the name of education while openly flouting the government rules and regulations.
She said that private schools are in collusion with coaching institutes for false registration of students where they are rarely asked to attend classes. She also said that the government should also conduct regular inspections of schools getting financial aid from the government or other organisations in the name of religious minorities. She said that such unmonitored schools openly misuse the funds that generally lead to the exploitation of parents and their children. She said that the death of a class III student in Bhagwanpur, Haridwar after he was beaten up by the school’s manager last week is a recent example of how the boy could be saved if school administration would have taken action earlier. She said that forced conversions of many children are also being done through such education institutes.
The SCPCR head said that as per the complaints received by the commission, the Education department often issues NOCs to the schools running in the name of religious minorities without proper verification, inquiry or inspection. Such gross negligence later leads to exploitation of parents and children. Khanna said that the commission has written to the State government to take cognisance of these issues. The commission has also directed the Education department to make a committee comprising police to properly analyse and monitor schools operating as religious minorities institutions.
