[Representation]
Mumbai: Speculation over the corporate giant who wish to adopt some 5,000 schools in Maharashtra under it’s “Adopt a School" scheme gets louder.
It all started two days ago when School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar while addressing a press conference in Mumbai said a city-based multinational conglomerate is looking to adopt 5,000 government-run schools in the state.
“A big corporate house has shown interest in adopting one school in each administrative block having 8-10 schools”, the Minister said without disclosing any name.
Citing its sources Free Press Journal in a report has now claimed that the multinational conglomerate is Reliance Education owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). The schools are likely to be adopted by Reliance Foundation.
Reliance Foundation is already running as many as 13 schools in different cities including the one in Mumbai. The foundation’s Jio Institute was one of the six institutes recommended for selection as Institutions of Eminence (IoEs) back in 2018.
Worried about the deteriorating condition of the government schools in the state, the Maharashtra government had in September this year announced the “Adopt a School” programme.
Under the scheme any individual or group can adopt one or more government run schools for five to ten years.
The government GR regarding the scheme said anyone having a SEBI registered Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) certificate can adopt the schools run by the state, Zilla Parishad or Municipal Corporations and Councils irrespective of their medium of instruction.
The individual or group adopting the schools will work as a guardian and will provide items and services required for schools infrastructural updgradation and functioning.
Those adopting schools will not be allowed to interfere in the daily management of the schools though they can add a name of its choice to the existing name of the school for the given period, according to the government order detailing the “Adopt a School” scheme.
The announcement of the scheme was criticised by the people working in the field of education. They said by roping in the corporate sector the government is trying to run away from its responsibilities. They feared that the scheme would undermine public education and give unnecessary access to private entities.
The government however is defending its decision saying the state has limited resources and the allocated funds are insufficient to improve the prevailing condition of government schools.
“When it comes to infrastructure in its 75,000 schools, Maharashtra scores 36 to 40 percent in various reports published by the Central government. We therefore decided to introduce this scheme”, Deepak Kesarkar said.
“The objective is to upgrade schools with quality infrastructure and better amenities”, he added.
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