Inspection unveils shortcomings at 66 unrecognised schools in Chandigarh

The UT education department has inspected 66 unrecognised schools and security issues have been raised in almost all of their individual inspection reports.
Unrecognised is the term used for those schools which don’t have the UT education department’s recognition. To gain this recognition, institutions have to maintain standards regarding pupil-teacher ratio, safety, classroom size, infrastructure, and the curriculum taught as specified by the UT administration and by the different boards like CBSE. After some private schools failed to follow the provisions of economically weaker section (EWS) admission under Right To Education (RTE) last year, the department had derecognised them. The matter is still pending in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
The inspections, in the meanwhile, were conducted by the UT district education officer (DEO) as per the provisions of the RTE Act and building bylaws. Schools have been given 15 days in case of any discrepancy to get any changes made; however it is not clear if any schools have applied under this. As per officials familiar with the matter, these inspections are first of their kind. The inspections were started after the Carmel tree collapse incident in 2022 where a schoolgirl lost her life after a tree fell on her.
As per the report, Mandeep Public School in Ramleela Ground, Maloya, is running out of a single room. The primary school does not have separate washrooms for boys and girls. The report also highlights very poor arrangements for securing the school premises and an absence of fit for occupation certificate and no-objection certificate (NOC) from competent authorities and fire department, respectively. It is one of several schools where such irregularities have been flagged. Most of much institutions are situated in the periphery of the city.
With several being of them primary schools, some are middle schools as well. As per inspection report of LM Model School in Maloya, it has separate classrooms for each class and operates till Class 5. However, the teachers employed are not qualified as per National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) norms. The school is following the syllabus of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) but is not recognised by the board or the department as per officials. As per the provided details, the salaries of teachers paid by the schools is also on the lower side and between ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 per month.
While the Mid-Day Meal scheme is mostly not followed in such schools, some of the schools like Green Valley Public School in Dadumajra village is serving food to students, but it is not cooked in a mid-day-meal kitchen. Surprisingly, Its pupil to teacher ratio of 15:1 is better than most government schools. Most of these schools also have no playgrounds. As per estimates, there are around 15,000 children studying in such schools of the city.
A majority of these schools are being run from residential properties. Gayatri Model School in Vikas Nagar, Mauli Jagran, is one such school where the school is running up to Class 5 with 43 enrolled students. However, instead of separate classrooms for different teachers, the school is being run in a single room.
Speaking about these inspections, UT director of school education Harsuhinderpal Singh Brar said, “The inspections were carried out under RTE. They don’t come under the jurisdiction of the department but we would urge parents not to send their children to such schools and to opt for government schools or even registered private schools.”
Chairperson of Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CCPCR) Shipra Bansal added that they will also call a meeting to discuss the shortcomings found in the inspections. “A time period of 15 days has been given to the schools after which we will call a meeting and we will work in collaboration with the UT education department.” She said some of the concerns flagged in these inspections, like fire department NOCs, are missing even from many recognised schools.