PANAJI
The Goa government has decided to crack down on unrecognised pre-primary or playschools, imparting formal education, operating in the State.
A special drive would be launched by the government to identify schools that are operating without recognition or that continue to operate even after their recognition has been revoked.
The Directorate of Education has instructed all the pre-primary schools including nursery and playschools running across the State to get a mandatory recognition from the government for its functioning as part of the National Education Policy (NEP). As of now, no such recognition was needed to run any pre-primary or playschool in Goa.
Addressing a press conference, Director of Education Shailesh Zingade said that operating schools without recognition is a punishable offence as per the NEP with a fine up to Rs 50,000 and if the violation continues, the schools will be subject to a daily penalty of up to Rs 10,000.
Under the guidelines of NEP 2020, the government has made the recognition of play or pre-primary schools mandatory. Under this, the accountability of schools will also be fixed for the safety of children and to ensure the entire basic infrastructure, including playgrounds and toilets, is available.
“NEP focuses on a strong base of early childhood care and education (ECCE) from age three and is also aimed at promoting better overall learning, development and wellbeing of these learners. They now fall under the regular school framework and must apply for recognition,” he said informing that a designated app has been launched for online application.
Pointing out that the department received complaints, Zingade said that the department will conduct a taluka-level survey to identify those unrecognised schools imparting formal education and action will be initiated accordingly. “Those schools imparting informal education, will not be acted on,” he said.
He noted that there are several pre-primary schools operating from homes, garages and other residential premises which have got no facilities. “Once they apply for permission, we will conduct a feasibility study of physical infrastructure and academic performance before granting recognition,” Zingade said, adding that for now provisional permissions are granted to several pre-primary schools.
Zingade urged parents to verify the antecedents of the schools on permission and recognition status before enrolling their children. “If the schools are without recognition and are imparting formal education, we will shut them,” he said, assuring that kids would be accommodated in the recognised schools.
As of date, more than 700 pre-primary schools are registered while another 800 plus have applied online for registration of which a feasibility study is conducted with regards to 400 schools. Zingade said that the government has stopped granting permissions to new English medium primary schools as the policy of the State is to promote Marathi and Konkani medium schools.
