Union minister Upendra Kushwaha says states should regulate 'whimsical' functioning of private schools

Patna: State governments should set up regulatory bodies to check the “whimsical and arbitrary functioning” of private schools, Union minister Upendra Kushwaha said on Saturday. The Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development said that the central government is taking steps to find a solution to the problem. “In order to check the arbitrary and whimsical functioning of private schools in the country, we (the Centre) have asked the state governments (to set up regulatory bodies)” Kushwaha told reporters. [caption id=“attachment_2441662” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Union minister Upendra Kushwaha. PTI[/caption] Such a regulatory mechanism has come up in several states and Bihar should also have one, he said. He said the CBSE has issued guidelines to schools to check any irregularity following the killing of a class II boy inside a toilet of a private school in Gurugram recently. If required, the school concerned could be de-affiliated, the minister added. Kushwaha, also the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief, said that his party has submitted a 25-point memorandum to Bihar government that includes this issue of the regulatory mechanism. As the same party is now in power at the Centre and in the state, Kushwaha said, there would be no problem in getting land for opening Kendriya Vidyalayas in Bihar. The RLSP president said he plans to meet Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in this regard soon. He announced that the party would hold a “Shiksha Sudhar Sankalp Mahasammelan” at Gandhi Maidan on 15 October in the state capital. The party has organised such sammelans in all the districts of Bihar during which the party received tremendous support from the people to bring changes in the education sector, Kushwaha said.