Mumbai Civic Body Releases List Of 269 Illegal Schools, Urges Parents to Avoid Them

The Mumbai-based Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has released a list of 269 schools declaring them illegal. Along with the list, the Mumbai civic body also urged parents not to enrol their children in any of the schools mentioned in the list. The new list is an updated version of the one released last year.

The previous list had a total of 283 schools. Out of the schools deemed unauthorised, 11 were shut down, four obtained affiliations to National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), and four got permission to run on a self-financed basis under the Maharashtra Self-financed Schools Act. For 2022-2023, BMC has added five new schools.

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“A list of 269 unauthorised schools has been prepared for the year 2022-2023 and it has been made available on the website of BMC,” read an official statement by BMC, reported a leading news daily.

The civic body has asked parents not to admit their children to the schools which are included in the list. The unauthorised status is given to these schools as per Section 18 (1) of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education of Children Act of 2009. According to this act, a school is liable to be granted an illegal/unauthorised status if the educational institution fails to get the approval of the government or the local body, in this case, BMC, for recognition.

Addressing the matter, BJP MLA Nitesh Rane has written a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seeking details about status of fines and penalties imposed on these illegal schools.

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Earlier, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Delhi released a list of 116 fake school boards stating that it will not admit students who have received schooling under any of them. Most of these fake school boards are based in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and use a name sounding similar to other recognised school boards. The Association of Indian University (AIU) has been tasked to ascertain the authenticity of these boards.

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