Private schools all over the state would remain close on Wednesday. The Private Schools and Children Welfare Association, Bihar Public School and Children Welfare Association and other associations took a decision in this regard on Monday.

The private school bodies said that the state government should have waited for the verdicts of the Supreme Court and Patna High Court on petitions of private schools challenging the validity of the RTE Act providing for compulsory registration of private schools. They have decided to hold a conference on the issue on October 16 in Patna. The government deadline for compulsory registration expires on September 30.

Meanwhile, HRD minister Prashant Kumar Shahi has already maintained that registration of private schools was necessary for implementation of the RTE Act. Principal Secretary, HRD, Anjani Kumar Singh, said on Monday that the state government was firm on implementing the provisions of the RTE Act, which mandates compulsory registration of private schools to ensure free and compulsory education to children in the age group 6-14 years.

Shahi had maintained that compulsory registration of private schools would help the state HRD department in monitoring the steps taken by private schools for admitting students as per the RTI Act.
The state government has already warned that it would impose heavy fine or close down schools which do not get registered by that date.
On the other hand, office bearers of Bihar Public School and Children Welfare Association S M Sohail and D K Singh and chairman of Private School and Children Welfare Association Syed Shamael Ahmad and secretary Mervyn Cowell said that Section 18 of the RTE Act provided that 75 per cent members in the managing committees of schools should be outsiders, that is, other than the private owners of the schools. The outsiders could be state legislators, guardians and others. This provision has been challenged in the Supreme Court and Patna High Court by the private school owners.

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