DEO fails to give details on private schools

Times of India: Vadodara: Thursday, May 11, 2017.

The Vadodara district education officer (DEO) has failed to provide details sought by a Right to Information (RTI) applicant on the private primary schools of the district.

Rashesh Patel, a resident of Anand, had filed an RTI application seeking list of all private primary schools of Vadodara, maps, permission letters, building completion certificates and the correspondence made by the schools with government offices.

Interestingly, while Patel himself hasn't received any reply to his application till date, the DEO office has uploaded the RTI application on its website with pointers suggesting its inability of answering the queries raised.

Of the eleven queries raised by the RTI applicant, the DEO office will be able to provide only the list of all schools. The letter uploaded by the office states that it cannot make available details regarding permission letters and building completion certificates in the "format which the applicant has sought".

Similarly, it has put cross one questions pertaining to building utility permissions sought by the schools, government's report on such permissions, yearly permissions sought by the schools in last 15 years to hike their fees and salary statements of teachers, their names, address and subjects that they teach.

"I fail to understand how did the office in first place made my application public without even replying to my queries," said Patel, adding that he will move an appeal against such a vague reply.

"They have failed to even provide me basic details like the number of no objection certificates (NOCs) that the office has issued to the schools. This is a basic requirement for running a school," said Patel.