Not aware of any notice regarding PPP model for schools: West Bengal Education Minister
India Today
An unsigned and undated notice, bearing the school education department's name, surfaced on social media recently, stating that the government, as part of its expansion plans, intended to operationalise schools through a PPP model.
On Saturday, the West Bengal Education Minister, Bratya Basu, mentioned that he did not have any information regarding any draft prepared by his department, proposing a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for schools. His response came a day after Left-leaning organisations threatened to wage a protest against such a move.
Recently, an unsigned and undated notice surfaced on social media stating that the government, as part of its expansion plans, intended to operationalise schools through the PPP model.
Further, the education minister said that no such meeting was held by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and it would be wrong to make assertions by anyone based on just speculations.
Asked if the notice was a fake one, Basu, however, said, "We will look into it."
On Friday, a senior education department official informed PTI that its principal secretary, Manish Jain, sent a letter to the heads of other allied departments to seek their opinion on the PPP model for schools.
The official had also noted that the government, in the face of protests, would now "carefully watch the situation" before making a move.
The draft that was circulated on social media said, "Whereas, to merge the best practices of both government and private schools, the School Education Department, Government of West Bengal (GoWB), intends to operationalize schools through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model and leverage the unused infrastructure of the government.
