NISA demands representation for budget private schools in policy making

Members of National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), a congregation of unaided budget private schools (BPS), have presented a charter of demands to the Human Research Development Ministry demanding representation for BPS in policy making.

While meeting with Department of School Education and Literacy Secretary Anil Swarup, NISA president Kulbhushan Sharma said, "Representation of elite private schools and government schools are always ensured while making education policies. But budget private schools which have more than 90 percent stake in education sector are kept away from this process. This is the reason rules go against BPS most of the times."

According to a statement by the NISA, amongst the issues faced by budget private schools, autonomy of schools, return of Inspector Raj, RTE reimbursement, no detention and teacher's eligibility took precedence.

Expressing his concern, NISAVice President Rajesh Malhotra said, "The RTE prescribes the schools to renew their licenses every three years which is forcing the return of Inspector Raj in this sector. We have to make endless rounds to the authorities' office which is giving more leeway to corruption."

Commenting on the teacher's eligibility issue, D. Shashi Kumar, co-ordinator of NISA's Karnataka Chapter said, "RTE's provisions are heavily discriminating in its rules and favours government schools and makes teacher eligibility test mandatory only for the private school teachers. Such interference not only mars the independence of private schools but also hampers the quality of education imparted.