Private schools accuse govt of sitting on NOC requests

BHUBANESWAR: Not a single private school in the state has got the mandatory 'no objection certificate' or NOC from the state government, despite having applied for it over the past couple of years. Private schools from across the state have accused the government of sitting on their applications.
As per the Right to Education Act, 2009, all schools should have obtained an NOC from the government within three years of the formation of the act. In 2016, the state government found that most schools had not applied for an NOC, and asked them to do so as quickly as possible. Almost 6,000 schools applied for the NOC online but none has received the certificate so far.

"We have reminded the state government to issue the certificate but to no avail," said chairman of Confederation of Odisha Public Schools, B N Patnaik.

The schools said they had uploaded all the required information - infrastructure, faculty details, fee structure, facilities and photographs - on the Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority website. In most cases, the block education officers have even completed inspection of the schools. "In case of CBSE schools, there is no need for inspection as the board conducts regular checks," Patnaik said.

The school and mass education department said most of the schools had not fulfilled the required criteria and been issued a showcause notice. "With a few exceptions, most have failed to fulfil the RTE Act's criteria. We have given these schools a deadline to fulfil the norms and apply again," said director of elementary education, Chudamani Seth.