Private schools in Kolkata are seeking a formal platform to engage with the West Bengal government over inspections, notices and compliance deadlines, an issue raised at the annual general meeting of the West Bengal Association of Private Affiliated Schools (WBAPAS) on Wednesday.
Representatives of around 50 schools attended the association’s second annual general meeting. WBAPAS has about 100 member schools and said it aims to facilitate dialogue, address common concerns and support the academic and professional development of schools, teachers and students.
The call for a common platform comes amid concerns among school managements about interventions by district inspector of schools’ offices and the volume of official notifications being issued to private institutions. School representatives said they were willing to comply with government instructions but wanted clearer and more constructive engagement.
“We are scared every time we visit the district inspector of schools (DI) office,” the head of one school said. The official added that the institution had met the requirements set out in a recent government notice and had subsequently received a no-objection certificate to function. The school head said the association was needed so that institutions could raise issues jointly and support one another.
The principal of another private school said the institution was receiving a large number of notifications from the DI office, making it difficult to track and respond to each requirement. The school is affiliated with a central board, the principal said, and had been given several compliance tasks with short deadlines.
“While we are ready to comply with all govt instructions, they should not feel like threats,” the principal said.
The association’s board of directors recently met education minister Dipak Barman and submitted a representation outlining operational challenges faced by private schools. The report did not specify the government’s response to the representation or whether a formal consultative mechanism would be established.
Ranjan Mitter, joint vice-president of WBAPAS and principal of The Future Foundation School, said the proposed platform would focus on collective dialogue, representation and constructive engagement. He said school managements and heads would be able to seek solutions tailored to their requirements through the association.
The organisation also has associate members who can assist schools with academic, administrative and legal matters, Mitter said. The association’s proposed engagement is intended to bring these concerns into a common forum rather than leave individual schools to address them separately.
Mousumi Saha, principal of National English School and secretary of WBAPAS, said forms would be circulated among members. Schools would be able to record their concerns through the forms and receive appropriate guidance, she said.
The association’s next step is therefore to collect concerns from member schools and use the information to guide its representation and support activities. The timeline for the circulation of the forms and any further meeting with the education department was not specified in the report.
