Committee to give Maharashtra school laws a full revision

Updated on: Tuesday, December 13, 2011

School education laws in the state will soon undergo an overhaul. The Maharashtra government has set up a committee to synchronise all laws in school education with the central Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.

Formed recently by the state’s school education department, it will be led by a retired Bombay high court judge and will have experts in education.

While the committee will look at all laws in school education, sources in the department claimed that some important ones that will be reviewed will include the Maharashtra Employees of Private Schools (MEPS) Act and Maharashtra Secondary School Code. The latter defines aspects like school hours, fees, examination, terms, discipline, conditions of service, admissions and withdrawals, curriculum textbooks and fees.

A school education department official said, “Many of the laws need to be seen from the RTE perspective. The central act defines aspects of schooling in different ways than the ones that we have been following. The committee has been set up to bring about changes and make additions.”

According to the official, the committee will be headed by retired Bombay high court judge, Justice Bhalchandra Vagyani. The directors of primary and secondary school education are some of the members.

Basanti Roy, educationist and former secretary of the Mumbai division board of education, said, “The provisions of the acts in the state should not supercede the RTE Act. Rules need to be modified in the secondary school code and other important acts. Most important is the clause which makes it compulsory for schools to reserve 25% seats for students from the economically weaker sections.”

Committee to give Maharashtra school laws a full revision

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