Private schools in UP now under Right to Information purview

The state information commissioner, Pramod Kumar Tiwari, in his order, sought the appointment of public information officers in private schools.

All Uttar Pradesh private schools will now be under the purview of the Right to Information Act (RTI) and will have to compulsorily provide the information sought under the Act. The decision definitely comes as a relief for students and their parents, struggling and running from pillar to post in order to get information from unaided, privately managed schools. India TV report suggests that the ruling has been given by the State Information Commission (SIC) and state information commissioner, Pramod Kumar Tiwari, in his order, sought appointment of public information officers in private schools.

Earlier, quite a few debates have been conducted discussing that unaided private schools should be under the purview of the RTI Act. The decision to put all UP private schools under the purview of the RTI has been taken following an appeal filed by one Sanjay Sharma in respect to two reputed private schools of Lucknow. As directed by SIC, the chief secretary will soon be releasing instructions for the state’s private schools to appoint officers to facilitate people to get information under the RTI Act, 2005.

Earlier, no information was being provided by private schools under RTI on the grounds that they were not funded by the state and were outside the purview of the Act.

However, with the latest decision, the SIC clarified that it is mandatory for the district education officer to give all the information mentioned in the form to the petitioner on demand.

The Supreme Court also ruled that the school will be considered adequately funded by the state if the development authority of a city provides land to a private school at concessional rates.

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