CM to hold meeting with various pvt school authorities on May 31

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seems to be in no mood to allow rampant business of private schools in the name of education with their ever increasing fee structure.

To address the same, the Chief Minister is all set to hold a meeting with various private school authorities at Nabanna on May 31.

Banerjee had earlier said that the state government was thinking of developing a policy to check the "ever-increasing fee structure" and "donations" in private educational institutions in the state.

The Chief Minister also urged state Education minister Partha Chatterjee to convene meetings with the school authorities after various board examinations were over. She had given a clear message that the state government would not allow anyone to indulge in business with education in schools. It was learnt from sources that the state government may formulate an Act which would impose some guidelines for the governance of private schools.

State Education minister Partha Chatterjee on Thursday said that the process of sending letters to various private school authorities had been initiated. The private school authorities will be requested to attend the meeting that will be convened by the Chief Minister at around 3 pm on May 31, Chatterjee said. The move was taken after the school Education department had received several complaints against various private schools over hefty fee hikes and donations.

Banerjee had received information that some schools were demanding a huge amount as donation. She said that the government will set up a policy which would cover all private educational institutes after listening to the suggestions of the private school authorities.

The Chief Minister had also expressed her concerns over the ever-increasing business mindedness of some of these private institutions in the state. It may be mentioned that various private educational institutions had come up in the state during the Left Front regime and over the years, these institutions have received donations worth lakhs of rupees with the government virtually having no control over them. Many of these private schools have been demanding hefty tuition and development fees every year.

As a result, it becomes difficult for middle-class people to get their children admitted to these schools. It has often been alleged that various private engineering colleges also demand huge fees and donations from candidates during their admission.

The state government has already passed the West Bengal Clinical Establishments (Registration, Regulation and Transparency) Act, 2017 empowering the government to take punitive action against private hospitals and fixing their accountability in cases of negligence in treatment of patients.

A health regulatory commission has also been formed to review negligence in treatment.