Date:30/08/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/30/stories/2007083060640400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

142 schools denied permission

‘They are functioning against norms’

HYDERABAD: The future of thousands of school students is now in a quandary with the Government not according sanction to 142 schools across the State that started academic operations this year even as the final date for paying the examination fee is fast approaching.

School managements are worried that students could lose a precious academic year if the Government doesn’t approve their institutions. These schools started functioning full-fledged from Class 1 to Class X at one go, though that is not the regular practice. The regular practice is that permission is given initially for a few classes and every year upper classes are added based on the infrastructure provided.

However, the managements claim that the Government issued G.O. 74 in September 2006 that allows opening of classes from first to 10th by private unaided schools and that they started schools as per the guidelines of the G.O. “Our applications were processed by all the authorities from lower rung to the higher level. But the sanctions are now refused,” says a member of a school management. In a memo released, it said that this was a backdoor method by the managements to establish schools with all classes at a stretch. “If the managements think permission would come even if they flout all the norms, they are mistaken,” an official said, adding that an enquiry is being ordered into how officials at the district level forwarded their applications.