STATE MUST MONITOR PVT SCHOOLS: HC

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has recently held that though private schools do not receive salary grant from the government, they are bound to follow the procedures prescribed by the state while appointing teachers. The court further held that it is the state’s duty to monitor and supervise the functioning and working of all such institutions.

A division bench of justices SC Dharmadhikari and Bharati Dangre was hearing the petition of a teacher who was appointed by a private school to the post of assistant teacher but her approval was denied by the school education department.

In 2013, the department had rejected the approval on the grounds that the documents confirming her appointment as an assistant teacher were not in order. The teacher approached the court seeking directions to the department to procure documents of her appointment from the school and to grant her approval after verifying them.

Based on the court’s directions to procure the documents, the department informed the court on December 3 that the school did not have proper documents to confirm her appointment to the school. After hearing the submissions, the court said, “We do not see how the state allows such institutions to function. Though there is no salary grant, there are other concessions which the state extends to educational institutions and these are at the cost of public exchequer.”