Surprise inspection at schools, several inadequacies found

Aparna Banerji 

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 6 

The Sultanpur Lodhi MLA Navtej Singh Cheema on Friday took the private schools in Kapurthala by surprise, as he carried inspections at almost half-a-dozen private schools of his constituency. 

Accompanied by both the DEOs of Kapurthala, Cheema inspected the records, transport and fee patterns of schools, asking the Education Department of the discrepancies thus found - a report regarding which shall be submitted to the CM, Punjab. 

Notably, the inspections come within a fortnight of rumours doing the rounds that Cheema might be the next Education Minister of the state. 

The investigation of schools was carried by the MLA along with Deputy District Education Officer (senior secondary) Bikramjit Singh, District Education Officer (elementary) Gurcharan Singh and Tehsildar Gurmeet Singh. The MLA inspected the schools - Akal Galaxy, Falcon International School, Dashmesh Academy, Cambridge international School, Lord Krishna International School and Christ Jyoti School. 

In some schools, the records were found to be inadequate, while at others the transport arrangements were out of order. 

Cheema said he was getting complaints from various students as well as parents - that parents were being exploited by school authoriries for charging hefty fees from parents. Cheema said the facilities - citing which the fee was being collected - weren't even being provided to students. 

While Akal Galaxy was the first to be inspected - here the fee record of the present and previous education year was sought. The standard of education at the schools was also checked. The Falcon International School was inspected - neither the principal, nor any administrative committee member was present. The school was also not able to present any record. The school was hence instructed to present its record within two days. 

The MLA also inspected the Dashmesh Academy and the Cambridge international School, whose records were also sought. 

He also took stock of the facilities being provided by schools to students. 

After this, the Christ Jyoti School was instructed to fix their transport arrangements, after these were found to be inadequate. 

Additionally, the school was also asked to immediately suspend the software and smart class funds being charged from students. The MLA also checked the records at the Lord Krishna International School and took stock of facilities being provided to students.

The MLA said while the buses of some of the schools had expiry first aid kits, others didn't have any CCTV cameras or GPS. Barring this, as per the Right to Education Act, children of poor families were also not given any admissions. Except this, the stationary was also found to be sold at exorbitant prices at many of the schools. 

While the teachers of the Education Department were instructed to make detailed reports of the inspection - the report, he said, would further be sent to the CM. Deputy District Education Officer (Senior Secondary) Bikramjit Singh and District Education Officer (elementary) Gurcharan Singh said the report was being prepared and non-complying schools shall also be issued notices. 

Speaking to the Tribune Navtej Singh Cheema said, "For the past many days, I was receiving complaints from several parents regarding exploitation in the name of fees. 

The schools have been found to be indulging in malpractices and none of them shall be spared. Schools are charging unnecessary fees like smart class fees, and were even charging Rs 100 a month from students for the SMS that school authorities send out to inform them of activities. We are going to continue with intensive inspections in the coming days as well. The transport facilities being provided by schools are also on the radar."