Zilla Parishad refuses to start class 8 in Shahapur school, parents rush to seek admission in far off schools

Mumbai: Parents of 19 class 8 students at Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee International School (BRABVIS), Khardi in Thane district are rushing to secure admission in private schools as far as 18 kms away from their homes after they learnt that the Zilla Parishad decided against starting class 8. In 2019, the state had announced that education under the Maharashtra International Education Board (MIEB), initiated by then education minister Vinod Tawde, would be imparted until Class 12, following which parents moved their children from different schools to BRABVIS.

BRABVIS was started in 2016–17 in selected Zilla Parishad schools across Maharashtra to provide education at par with international standards to students in rural areas.

Till the 2022–23 academic year, ZP School, Khardi No. 1, Shahapur taluka offered education up to class 7. The school was supposed to start class 8 in the 2023–24 academic year. “The former school principal, Sudhir Bhoir, submitted documents to the government department seeking approval for class 8. However, the principal was transferred to another school, and the process was stuck,” said Pandurang Kale, chairman, school management committee. “Now the zilla parishad administration has abruptly announced the exclusion of class 8 from the upcoming academic year, leaving us bewildered and concerned about their children’s future,”

“I shifted my daughter from a private English-medium school to this school in 2019 so she would get a good education close to home. Till now, everything has been going well. All the teachers and former principal imparted good-quality education to our children. But this year, with Bhoir’s transfer, we lost everything,” said Kale.

At the time when the school was selected as BRABVIS, there were 125 students. “The quality of students has bettered as teachers have received high quality training. Consequently, as nursery, junior and senior sections were started, enrollment went up to 425,” said Sneha Apte, a parent of a class 3 student. “Since this school does not offer education after class 7, it forced me to take admission in another private school 25kms away from my home. I appealed to the government to bring back Bhoir to the school.”

“We requested the chief executive officer (CEO) of Zilla Parishad to start class 8 in this school and allow students to continue their education in the same school. We also had a discussion with the guardian minister of Thane district, Shambhuraj Desai, and now we are expecting a positive reply from the authority,” Kale added.

Meanwhile, CEO Manuj Jindal denied receiving any written complaint from the parents. “Till now I haven’t received any written complaints, but we will act as per the rule,” he added.