Hyderabad: Private schools' 100% success formula leaves parents fuming

Updated on: Thursday, June 23, 2011

Private schools in the city have found a way to secure 100% results in Class X public examination. The school managements are systematically culling out their poor performers, either by detaining them in lower classes or expelling them from school.

Witnessing this trend is the district educational office of Hyderabad which is currently flooded with petitions from worried parents whose children have not been promoted from Class VIII and IX, with schools citing poor performance as the reason. In spite of the AP Education Act and Right to Education (RTE) Act banning detention till Class IX, private schools are also expelling students to ensure 100% pass in SSC. The DEO's office in the city has received about a dozen complaints from parents about illegal detention this year.

Once expelled from a reputed private school, the students are denied admission in other private schools also. Such students are left with no option but to take admission in substandard schools in the city, officials said.

In a recent case, Abu Bakar, a Class VIII student of a private school in the city was forced to stay home even after his school reopened on June 13 as he failed in Telugu and Biology subjects in the annual examination. Bakar's parents approached the DEO on June 19 asking for an enquiry into the matter. "The school asked me to tutor my son at home and apply for admission in 2012. They did not give any guarantee to admit him back," said Md bin Awaz, Bakar's father.

Child rights activists from the city said that schools often detain students who fail in more than one subject. "Some schools even make parents sign bonds stating that they are fine with the detention system," said Sushinder Reddy, DEO, Hyderabad.

Balala Hakkula Sangham, a child rights NGO, said that they get such cases even from intermediate colleges. "Students are given poor marks in internal examination in the first year and later they are discouraged to appear for the public examination. Most schools and colleges advertise that they have got 100% pass after the announcement of public examination results. The government should ban such advertisements," said Achyuta Rao of Balala Hakkula Sangham.

Officials from school education department said that stringent action will be taken against schools that detain students. "Every year we get such complaints and the schools are found guilty in almost all the cases. The department had in the past imposed a penalty on most school managements that were found guilty," said the DEO.

Times of India

Hyderabad: Private schools' 100% success formula leaves parents fuming

More Education news