Parents of school children under the banner of All Uttarakhand Parents’ Association held a meeting in support of the State Government’s decision to make National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books compulsory in all schools except ICSE schools in Uttarakhand. The association members said that if the private schools refuse to implement the Government orders even after being pulled up by the High Court, the parents and citizens will have to taken an initiative to ensure implementation of the said orders. Meanwhile, members of various organisations also held a rally and demonstration in support of the State Government decision.
At the meeting presided over by the association president Neeraj Singhal, the members appreciated the decision of the State Government while also expressing concern at the stand of the private schools. They said that despite the directions, such schools appear uninterested in the use of only NCERT books. The association members opined that private schools that use costlier text books brought out by private publishers fear monetary loss and have thus protested against the government decision.
Singhal questioned, “If the private schools here are reluctant to follow regulations made in India then what are they planning to follow? Such private schools which are against the decision and regulation are trying to dodge their way out by saying that NCERT books should be supplementary to books from private publishers. If these institutions do not resolve our problems soon then we will protest against such schools,’’ he added.
The association’s general secretary Sudesh Uniyal said that “We will wait till April 20 for these schools to implement the Government directions. If they fail to do so by then, the association with its 70 branches and 1, 32,611 members will stage a major protest in Dehradun.”