1000 unrecognised schools in Hyderabad Secunderabad

The number of unrecognized schools in the twin cities has grown to more than 1,000 from 593 in the previous academic year.

While teachers and educationists are blaming the government this, officials say they are cautious since they don't want to harm the students in these schools.

There are nearly 4,000 schools in twin cities in both private and public sector.

Out of these, only 2,800 schools are recognized by the government and the rest are all unrecognized.

Most of these unrecognized schools, having classes from kindergarten to Class X, are doing brisk business without complying with the norms of the School Education Department.

They charge steep fees, employ teachers who are not trained to handle kids, and are not too bothered about maintaining academic standards.

"These managements merely register their schools and admit students on the basis of the registration number," said district educational officer B. Mallamma. She pointed out that registration and recognition are two different things.

"Parents should under stand this or they will face many difficulties," she added. "We only recognise schools which comply with norms."

When officials issue notices to unrecognized schools seeking explanation, they make minor changes in the name of the school and pretend it is a new one.

"Problems occur when students of unrecognized schools want to shift to a new school," said K. Venugopal, secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation. "As the school itself has no recognition, the transfer certificate it issues has no value and the students will have to suffer."

Also, the managements of these schools are forced to make arrangements with other recognized schools for Class X students to appear for public exams. These students can only get certificates in another school's name.

Officials are unable to curb the antics of unrecognized schools because of their political influence.

"We cannot act tough against these schools, as it involves future of thousands of students," said the DEO. "What we are trying to do is making them comply with norms and to ensure that no such schools come up in the future."
Source:DC