New policy to offer more space for education …..Sharad Vyas
Mumbai: In a major boost to government’s commitment to provide elementary education to all, the BMC has formulated a new policy that will help generate over 12,00,000 sq feet of school area.
The new rule—asking owners of private schools building their institutes on a land reserved for primary and secondary schools to hand over 15% of the built-up area to the BMC—will ensure that highend institutes do their bit for society and contribute towards the Right to Education Act. According to the official data, there are still about 500 plots reserved for primary and secondary schools that are yet to be developed.
In an ideal situation, if encroachment and legal hassles over these plots are not taken into account, the policy has the potential of completely changing the face of city’s literacy rate, an official said. The new rule has been framed by altering Rule 9 of Development Control (DC) guidelines that allows registered institutions, private trusts and parties to set up school on land reserved for primary and secondary schools. “Once the Right to Education Act was implemented, it meant that demand for classrooms and school space would go up manifold. While we are sure to fall short of the demand, the new policy will take care of the need to have more schools,’’ said a senior official of the development plan department.
The policy, officials said, was framed after it was found that many of the posh schools were not adhering to existing mandate—that of reserving over 15% of total seats (in a project coming up on reserved plot) for civic-run schoolstudents. Since a corporation resolution (CR) was passed for it in 1994, not much has come BMC’s way, said officials.
The BMC currently runs about 1,162 primary schools and the private sector accounts for another 1,092 schools. Secondary education is by and large provided by the private sector and the BMC has only 50 secondary schools of its own, the official added.
The new rule will allow the private schools to have a separate entrance and wing for the area handed over to the BMC. For maintenance, the corporation will allow NGOs and private trusts to adopt that portion as well. “If the private school has its own trust, it could adopt the separate wing. This would allow all the students—BMC and the private wings—to follow a similar education system,’’ said an official.
The BMC does get help from private parties and developers when school plots are handed over to it as accommodation reservation but not many get developed by the corporation. In the last two decades, 53 primary schools were handed over to BMC in lieu of 80,240 sq m of TDR.
SCHOOLING PLAN
According to the new rule, owners of private schools who want to build their institutes on a land reserved for primary and secondary schools will have to hand over 15% of the built-up area to the BMC. Going by that calculation and with around 500 plots left to be developed, more than 12,00,000 sq ft of school area will be created, boosting the govt’s plan to provide education to all