School owners meet collector over FIR threat by edu officer Vanjari

Nagpur: After Nagpur district education officer (primary) Chintaman Vanjari threatened schools with FIR, local school promoters met district collector Ravindra Thakare on Monday to express their displeasure. The Unaided Schools’ Welfare Association Nagpur (USWAN), which has almost all CBSE schools as members, says if such threats from the education department and refusal to pay fees by parents continue then they will have no option to shut down for the 2020-21 session. Thakre has now decided to hold a webinar for all stakeholders to sort out the issue.
Last week, the Unaided Schools’ Forum (USF), a Mumbai-based association with members across the state, had complained about Vanjari to the Chief Minister’s Office.
An USWAN member, who was present during the meeting with Thakare, said the discussions were ‘fruitful’. The school promoter said, “The collector told us that within a week he will host a webinar with us and other stakeholders to see how the differences can be overcome. He appreciated the concerns we all showed regarding the financial crisis we all find ourselves in.”
In the letter which they submitted to Thakare, promoters say it is only due to the current moratorium provided by banks that they are surviving. “We are able to pay salaries of teachers only because of the moratorium. Schools are in debt and struggling to pay the EMIs. Once banks lift the moratorium, it will be impossible to carry on,” said an USWAN member.
Vanjari’s misadventure with choice of words in getting principals to fall in line has united schools from different associations. USF’s honorary secretary Subhash Chandra Kedia said the education officer’s argument of state’s June 15 circular is faulty. “It’s not mandatory. Education officer Vanjari is misinterpreting the advisory and trying to implement it as if it’s a government resolution (GR),” said Kedia.
Vanjari warned schools to desist from holding online classes till Std II as per the June 15 guidelines. However, even the Bombay High Court on Monday asked the state government not to take any coercive steps against schools which are conducting online classes for students up to Std II, if they are willing to avail such teaching.