Vjinder Mehra urges government to intervene on the nexus between school management and middleman
Student Guardian Forum Himachal Pradesh has demanded the government to instruct the managements of all private schools in the state to display the list of books of the new session and class on their website and the names of its authors and NCERT or SCERT in private schools. In a statement issued here today convenor of SGF Mr Vjinder Mehra said that Director of Higher education should intervene on the issue of nexus between school management and middleman about sell of books and notebook from a shortlisted shopkeeper. He demanded that parents could get a chance to buy books from their favorite shop and the nexus and commission between private school managements and selected book shop owners could be stopped. Vijender Mehra and co-convenor Vivek Kashyap have said that in the year 2014, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh had directed all the schools to make their own website but most of the private schools have not made their website. The private schools which have also created their own website, this website always comes out of order on opening it. This is in violation of the orders of the High Court. A few years back, Madras High Court had also passed an order to make education accessible to all. The basic spirit of the Right to Education Act 2009 and HPBOSE Act 1968, is also to ensure cheap and good education, only cheap and quality books of NCERT or SCERT should be given to students in Himachal Pradesh, but private Schools deliberately force parents to buy expensive books every year in the name of quality so that the commission of private school managements could continue. By making three books of one book, private publishers are reaping profits up to ten times from the parents. In the years 2016 and 2017, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh has passed orders to curb the business activities of private institutions. Section 2(1)(r) of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 also prohibits unfair trade practices. He has said that private schools do commission openly and target only selected shops in the name of books and hand over this work to them in a planned manner so that their commission is maintained. He has demanded to implement the various orders of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh in letter and spirit and every private school should list the list of books and their authors for the upcoming session and class on their website even before the examinations of the previous session are over. With this, all the shopkeepers selling books would be able to know the list of books and the parents will also get the option to buy books and they would be able to get books at cheaper rates.