Ready to hand over aided schools, managements tell govt

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that his government was willing to take over aided private schools in Kerala, the managements of these institutions on Monday said they too were willing to opt for the arrangement provided they get reasonable rent.

Vijayan had said on Sunday that since the state government was paying salaries to the staff in such schools, it could take over their management and pay rent in lieu to those running these schools.

"There are just 3,047 teachers in the teachers pool (teachers who presently get paid but have little work due to the fall in the number of students in certain private schools), and not 13,255 as mentioned by Finance Minister Thomas Issac in his Budget speech on Friday. If any management is not functioning as per the rules, please take action. We wish the Chief Minister calls us for a meeting to discuss various issues," a statement from the aided school managements read.

In Kerala, educational institutions are either fully managed by the state, or are run by private managements (religious institutions, socio-cultural organisations) though their staff salaries are paid by the state, or are totally managed by private bodies without any government financial support.

Appointments in aided institutions are done by the managements directly, with little control of the state government.

The managements of the aided institutions will meet here on Tuesday to discuss Vijayan's stand.

Meanwhile, Education Minister C. Raveendranath told the media on Monday that what the Chief Minister said was the official position on the matter and he had nothing more to add.