School admission applications for secondary and higher secondary private schools in Gujarat have plunged to the lowest in a decade in the last two years, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and revised rules.
As families across Gujarat struggle to recover from the financial burdens after the pandemic, preference for government schools has risen immensely.
“The new schools applications are few in the past two years as the condition of parents affected due to Covid-19 pandemic is still not stable,” stated Bharat Gajipara, the president of Gujarat Self-Financed School Management Federation.
“Hence, they prefer government schools over private ones–a trend more evident in the urban areas”, he added.
Owing to the newly revised rule from 2019 for new schools, there is “no scope for non-sustainable smaller private schools”.
GSHSEB Chairman A J Shah cited similar views on this matter, “Children are now going to government and grant-in-aid schools than private ones that can be attributed to the fall in numbers.” It is now the survival of the fittest following the revised rules for new private school applications in 2019, Shah added.
According to the education department, they revised rules in September 2019 that exercised playgrounds for setting up a new school after a sharp decline in the number of new schools approved in 2019-20. Meanwhile, the minimum playground size condition was changed from 1,200 square metres to 800 square metres in the urban areas. However, in the rural areas, it was reduced from 2000 square metres to 1500 square metres.
Gajipara, who heads the federation of 9,000 private schools across Gujarat, remarked that the new rules have impacted potential new school applicants. “Though these have not affected the bigger and reputed schools set up in the good areas which in any case are less in numbers, the smaller ones in the middle and low economic strata areas that were largely opening till the pandemic has now stopped.”
Other conditions include such as no pending court case of the land, a trust or an organisation willing to open a school in the rural areas with a minimum of Rs 2 lakh bank balance and Rs 3 lakh in urban areas. Additionally, the school building should avoid proximity to any shopping centres or adjoining a shopping centre in any manner. Also, CCTV cameras have to be mandatory in the school.
