A copy of a marksheet issued by the school.
Delhi Police has booked the owner of a private school in southeast Delhi’s Pul Prahladpur after parents of at least 10 children studying there alleged that the school was operating illegally without affiliation.
The matter came to light when students of the school got marksheets from the Uttar Pradesh board after clearing board exams. After getting the marksheets, the parents approached the school authorities, who assured them that the marksheets were indeed legitimate. The parents, however, filed a complaint with police on September 10, 2017.
On February 9, an FIR in the case was registered under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) after officials from the UP board questioned the authenticity of the marksheets.
DCP (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said, “We have registered an FIR in the case after verifying all allegations. Further investigation is underway.” One of the complainants in the case, Dev Singh Tanwar, whose son studied in the school for the last 10 years, alleged, “It is one of the oldest schools in our locality. My son studied here from Class I-X. Initially, the school administration gave us a document — results of Class X —and asked us to get my child admitted in a nearby school for his plus two. We admitted our child to the school that they suggested after paying Rs 50,000. When the new school pressured us to get the marksheet, we went back to old school. They then gave us a copy of a marksheet allegedly from the UP board. Later, we got to know that it was fake.”
A senior police officer said, “During the investigation, we found that the school initially told parents that they were affiliated till Class VIII. Later, they shifted to a new building and told parents that they have procured affiliation till Class X. Running out of a four-storey building, the school has 300-400 students. Of them, 14 students — 11 boys and three girls — had appeared for Class X exams.”
Another complainant, Anita Kumari, alleged that despite filing a complaint with the education department, no action has been taken against the school yet. When contacted, Atishi Marlena, advisor to education minister Manish Sisodia, said that the department will check if any such complaint has been made.
Accepting the problems of unrecognised schools, Marlena said, “Parents are mostly unaware if the school is affiliated or not. Generally, these schools function only till Class VIII. After that, they try and put the students into recognised schools through linkages.”
Earlier last week, the Directorate of Education had issued a directive seeking shutting of unrecognised schools since they are not allowed under the Right to Education Act, 2009.
(Inputs from Shradha Chettri)