Govt secondary schools set for facelift with pvt push

Allahabad: Government-run secondary schools in Allahabad district may soon be run with the efficiency often associated with private organisations.
The district administration plans to introduce the public private partnership (PPP) model in secondary schools to give them a facelift.
Under the initiative, private firms or individuals would run and manage a secondary schools selected for the scheme.
Sources said following the state government’s decision, director (secondary education) Vinay Kumar Pandey has written to senior officials of his department to take the required steps so that the move can be implemented.
Officials said this was not the first time that the PPP model is being introduced by the state government in the education sector.
On the directive of the Centre, the state government decided to open 680 schools in various blocks across the state in rural areas in 2009-10.
Under the scheme, the government sanctioned 148 in 2010-11 and later 45 in 2012-13. Of these, 191 were even constructed when the Union government decided to withdraw the scheme.
The state government then decided to run these schools on a PPP model in July 2015. “However, the initiative failed to take off,” said the source.
“The government might also appoint an officer on special duty/advisor for drafting the policy for the scheme’s implementation,” he added.
Meanwhile, the move was met with severe criticism from a section of government teachers. “This is not for the first time that government is trying to implement such a model. This is a conspiracy to privatise education. In future, the government might try to privatise other sectors like health and security as it continues to fail these basic needs,” said Suresh Kumar Tripathi, teacher MLC (Allahabad-Jhansi division).