Madras high court order to help 1,000 private schools gain education department recognition – Times of India

CHENNAI: More than 1,000 private schools can gain recognition from the school education department in the next academic year thanks to a Madras high court order. The HC directed the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) to process applications seeking concurrence for buildings of educational institutions functioning prior to 2011 in non-plan areas.
The government also stated that educational institutions are not compelled to obtain concurrence, adding that it is only an option to avail benefits under the onetime scheme. These schools have had a tough time due to a stay on on processing of their applications as without DTCP approval the schools could not get recognition.
“We were not able to get the concurrence for buildings in non-plan areas due to stringent conditions. The state government then passed GO no. 76 to give concurrence for buildings in non-plan areas in educational institutions. More than 1,400 schools and colleges have applied to get concurrence by paying Rs 7 per sqft. But, we could not get concurrence due to the court stay,” said D C Elangovan, general secretary, Federation of Associations of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu.
Following the court’s direction, the federation approached the government and these schools are likely to get the DTCP approval soon.
The court also gave two weeks time to schools that have not applied for concurrence. Though the schools got the necessary approvals from respective local bodies, the state made DTCP approval mandatory after amending the act in 2011.
Officials from the school education department said the order will help remove the hurdles schools face in getting recognition, fitness certificates for school vehicles and fee fixation. “Every year, these schools have been struggling to get recognition as they did not have necessary DTCP approval. We had to issue temporary approval from time to time. Now, there won’t be any issue in processing their applications and any uncertainty over their students appearing for exams will also come to an end,” an official said.