Maharashtra bill seeks to bring new KGs, nurseries under government control

The legislative council on Tuesday passed a bill that will bring pre-primary education under its control. After the Maharashtra Self-Financed School Bill becomes a law any institution or person desirous of opening a nursery or KG will have to seek permission from school education department. More importantly, permission will be granted only if the applicant is ready to provide primary education too. This bill will not effect the existing nurseries and kindergartens.

The bill comes up for discussion in the legislative assembly on Wednesday and will be likely passed in this session. The provisions will come into effect from next academic session.

School education minister Rajendra Darda told the council that new pre-primary schools were being regulated to ensure that the 25% quota for poor under RTE was provided by private schools. "Many schools only admit their kindergarten II students to standard I. So if there is no control over pre-primary education then the schools will not implement the 25% quota in nursery and kindergarten and will finally say that they have no vacancies left in standard I."

The decision to regulate pre-primary education has not gone down well with the education fraternity. A KG principal, said, "It is unfair for the state government to start meddling in our affairs.

Basically we (pre-primary institutes) do not receive even a single dime in grants or favours, so on what basis is the government trying to dictate terms to us. Our industry survives solely due to quality and competitive fee."