New preschools must have independent premises: Directorate of education

PANAJI: The directorate of education (DoE) has made it mandatory for pre-primary schools in the state to have independent premises.

The order comes in the light of complaints the department received from Vasco, Dona Paula and Miramar about pre-primary schools being operated from residential premises.

Director of education G P Bhat said that henceforth, whenever a new pre-primary school applies to the directorate for registration, an inspection team will visit the premises. New pre-primary schools, he said, will only be registered if they meet all infrastructure requirements set by the directorate.

“They need to have independent premises with proper ventilation, adequate toilets, and an electricity and water connection,” Bhat said. “They also have to submit a no-objection certificate from the local panchayat and an occupancy certificate of the premises they will be operating from.”

Pre-primary schools open for the new academic year in mid-June.

The directorate began regulating pre-schools from 2010, and currently has over 500 registered with it.

Interestingly, despite the DoE making it mandatory for the preschools to have independent premises and other infrastructure requirements, it doesn’t have any mechanism to shut down existing ones that run in violation of the stipulated norms. The directorate can only de-register these schools from its records.

The DoE only registers playschools, and no affiliation is required to operate schools that cater to children between the ages of 2.5 and 6.