State to have regulatory bodies for private schools, colleges

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 22

To plug loopholes in the private education system of the state, the Cabinet has decided to set up separate regulatory authorities for private schools, colleges and universities.

It has asked the Education Department to submit a draft legislation in the next meeting.

The Vidhan Sabha, during the SAD-BJP government, has already cleared a Bill on regulating education in private schools. “Even the Governor has given his assent to a Bill on regulating private schools. The regulation process, however, got stuck in the elections,” said former Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema.

“No one can deny that several private institutions charge hefty fees and provide poor quality of education. At the same time, private education in the hands of the SGPC, DAV and Sanatan Dharam remain the best. There is need to regulate the system to bring in uniformity,” he added.

Besides a Bill on private schools, the state government is planning to introduce a separate Bill to regulate education in private colleges and universities, where the major complaint is lack of uniformity in standards of education.

Students in several colleges complain about poor quality of teaching, while teachers complain about lower emoluments. A college professor flagged another matter. “Several institutes make tall claims about job placements in advertisements. This needs to be verified,” he said.

Chandigarh University Chancellor Satnam Sandhu said, “Higher education needs autonomy for designing the course content in accordance with the requirements of the times. If the government can introduce regulations that can get students more jobs and frame syllabus that matches the requirements of the industry, we will never object. The government needs to involve us in the decision-making process.”