Close 746 schools in state for lack of safety, says PIL

Chennai: A total of 746 schools, whose recognition would come to an end by May 31, 2016, need to be closed on safety grounds, says a PIL filed in the Madras high court.
A vacation bench of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice S Vimala, before which the PIL of ChangeIndia director A Narayanan came up on Wednesday, issued notice to the school education department.The case was posted for June 1 for further hearing.
In his petition, Narayanan submitted that these schools were found to have violated rules pertaining to minimum land availability, infrastructure and student safety. Though they had been functioning since 2004 with temporary approvals, the final one-time exemption comes to an end on May 31.
Since it involved the safety of more than five lakh students in these institutions, authorities must not allow student enrolment in these schools unless they meet the mandatory norms, he said. Referring to a representation the organisation had submitted to the authorities, Narayanan said they must act swiftly to ensure that students in these schools are able to continue their education without disruption. They must continue their education in other recognised schools he said, adding that authorities must first publish the entire list of 746 schools on the official website.
District collectors and education officials should be asked to make suitable arrangements for the affected students, he said. The official inspection team formed to visit the schools must have a civil engineer, a health officer, a revenue official, a psychologist, a fire officer and a local body representative, so that they could assess the infrastructure and other amenities in these schools fairly, Narayanan said.