The State government has decided to initiate action against private schools and colleges that fail to reopen from Tuesday. On Saturday, the State government had threatened to derecognise those schools that do not start functioning from Monday, which was later deferred to Tuesday, after the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) gave a call for a Telangana bandh on Monday.
Private schools bid for Esma
The announcement on reopening of schools was made by minister for secondary education K. Parthasarathi, after a meeting with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday. Private schools and junior colleges have been forced to remain closed since September 13 on account of the Sakala Janula Samme. “All the schools in Telangana region will reopen from Tuesday. We have already received communication from various schools management associations about their willingness to reopen the schools from Tuesday. Those who fail to do so will have to face action,” Mr Parthasarathi said.
The school and college managements say that they are caught between the state government that wants them to open the schools, and the T-agitators who are opposing it. They point out that the State government instead of issuing threats should first bring in legislation exempting schools from all kinds of bandhs. It has been a long-pending demand to bring schools under the Essential Services Maintenance Act.
“We have no problem whatsoever in reopening the schools any time. But the government should provide a congenial atmosphere to run the schools. Though we tried our best to open our schools several times during the last one month, we were disrupted by agitators. We were forced to declare holidays due to the disturbance. We demand the government bring in legislation to bring schools under Esma,” said Mr S. Sreenivas Reddy, president of the Hyderabad Recognised Private Schools Managements Association.
Source : DC