Over 1,000 unaffiliated schools in Haryana, 157 in Panipat alone

Edu officials say most schools were issued notices but they failed to respond

Schools that do not have affiliation are forced to close down. If schools apply for recognition and fulfil all the requisite parameters, they are allotted permanent recognition.

PK DAS, additional chief secretary, school education

AMBALA:AS many as 1,083 private schools in Haryana are running without affiliation, as per the figures provided by the school education. Most of these schools have classes up to Class 12.

The figures further show that the highest number of unaffiliated schools are in Panipat (157), followed by Faridabad (134), Gurugram (92), Fathehabad (87), Karnal (77), Bhiwani, including Charkhi Dadri, has 70, Kurukshetra (68), Rohtak (63), Kaithal (60), Nuh (53), Hisar (50), Sonepat (48), Rewari (40), Yamunanagar (36), Sirsa (19), Ambala (15), Jind (10) and Jhajjar (4). Panchkula does not have a single unaffiliated school.

Additional chief secretary, school education, PK Das stated that all private schools which have not applied for affiliation but are still functioning would be forced to close down.

“Many schools get recognition approval every year. If they fulfil all the parameters required to run a school, they are allotted permanent recognition. If they give false details and claims, the department files FIR’S against such schools and their management,” he added.

A district education officer, pleading anonymity, said many of these schools are being run for the past several years in violation of the rules.

“These schools were identified when the education authority carried out a survey in the district recently while acting on several complaints against such schools,” the officer added.

The officer further ascertained that the district education department had served notices to these schools on the school education department’s direction but most of the schools failed to respond to the notices.

On being asked about what the district education department is doing to tackle the issue, Ambala district education officer Uma Sharma said they will shift the students of such schools to nearby government schools in the coming session.

“We are taking action as per the guidelines issued by the state government and will ensure standard of education as well as safety and security of the students. We would initiate action against those who neglect the guidelines”, she added.