MUMBAI NGO- NGO takes stock of issues in BMC schools

MUMBAI: NGO Child Rights and You has sought the help of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to raise education standards in Mumbai's municipal schools. 

The BMC has an education budget of Rs 1,800 crore and claims to educate nearly 4.5 lakh children annually. This translates to Rs 40,000 per child, which is able to fetch high quality education in an unaided ICSE school. This funding is separate from the Central aid provided under the Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan (SSA). 

Three years ago, CRY set up Mumbaiites for Child Rights (M4CR) a network of like-minded citizens working on child rights issues. 

With approval from the civic body, M4CR has been observing the functioning of over 50 municipal schools in different wards and has now apprised civic commissioner Subodh Kumar of the various shortcomings in the BMC's education system. 

Nitin Wadhwani, anchor for M4CR, said, "For the last three years, the civic body has consistently claimed that it is providing education to 4.5 lakh children. There are numerous reports of children dropping out, parents preferring private English-medium schools so the number seems slightly exaggerated. We want the BMC to do an actual head count as the amount spent by the BMC and the Centre under SSA is substantial," said Wadhwani. 

The group found that despite the Justice Dhanuka committee recommendations in 2005, the BMC is yet to take up major repairs in the shortlisted schools. The BMC has around 1,100 school buildings, several of them are in a dilapidated condition or have shut down. 

In its observations, it has pointed out that though Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings are mandatory, however, there are no PTAs in civic schools. 

Ramesh Joshi of the Mumbai Civic Teachers' Union said the association had made similar recommendations over a year ago. 

"Then we were told by the administration that since the rules under the Right to Education Act were still awaited from the state government, the same could not be implemented," said Joshi.