By: Express News Service | Ahmedabad | Updated: December 5, 2019 9:33:38 am The governments decision came after several rounds of meetings between Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, CM Rupani, senior officials of the education department, CBSE officials, school principal and parents of over 850 students on Wednesday. (Representational Image)

Three days after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) cancelled the affiliation of Delhi Public School (DPS) East Ahmedabad, the Gujarat government on Wednesday decided to take over the management of the school till the end of the current academic session.

Announcing the decision, Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said, After a meeting with CBSE officials, the Chief Minister and listening to the parents, we have taken this historic decision to run the school from Class I till XII till the end of this academic session.

The government decision to take over the school came after several rounds of meetings between Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, senior officials of the education department, CBSE officials, school principal and parents of over 850 students on Wednesday. CBSE deputy secretary Jaiprakash Chaturvedi, and regional officer from Ajmer, Poonam Rani, were part of the Central Board delegation.

Chudasama added, We understand the difficulties children may face if they are shifted to a new school in the middle of the session. So, keeping in mind the benefit of 850 children, the CM took this decision. No child will be asked to shift to another school till this academic session ends.

Following the announcement, the school sent out a message to all parents that said, Dear Parent, this is to inform that all classes from I to XII are functional from tomorrow. Kindly send your wards as per regular schedule, which was signed by the DPS East Ahmedabad principal, Hitesh Puri.

The school got into trouble after it came to light that it has leased out its land without permission from the CBSE to the ashram of self-styled guru Nithyananda who is facing a case for allegedly keeping women in illegal confinement on the ashram premises.

On Sunday, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) withdrew its affiliation to the school citing that the school submitted a forged No-Objection Certificate (NoC) and contradictory statements on leasing out land to the ashram. On Monday, the State Education Department withdrew its permission to the school to run classes I to VIII.

The parents have been demanding that government take over the school till it gets documents and approvals. This has come as a very good news for us and the children whose future was at stake and were suffering for no fault of theirs. My wife had tears in her eyes when I told her about this and our children jumped with joy, said Vikas Sood, one of the parents.

School principal Hitesh Puri said the school should be given three months to submit necessary documents and get back the affiliation. The affiliation was taken away mid-session, so where will the students go? How will they prepare for the board exams? If school has no NoC, it should be given time (to submit one), he said.

On Wednesday, students of Class X and XII sat for their first pre-board that was earlier scheduled for Monday. Students of other classes continued to camp outside the school till evening and called off their protest after the government announced its decision. They had placards saying, We want our school back, education is power. A delegation of parents also met governor Acharya Devvrat, requesting him to intervene.

A resolution passed by the State Education Department late on Wednesday stated that District Education Officer (rural) and District Primary Education Officer (DPEO) will run the school in co-ordination till March 31, 2020. It further clarified that the state government will bear no expenses to run the school but will utilise school funds for the same. The resolution also stressed upon DEO (rural) and DPEO to ensure the school building gets fire safety certificate and structural stability certificate from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA).

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Gujarat govt takes over DPS East Ahmedabad for current academic session - The Indian Express