In a stern administrative action, Indore Divisional Commissioner Deepak Singh has put on hold District Education Officer (DEO) Sushma Vaish immediately on grounds of persistent absence in public hearings and inaction regarding complaints pertaining to CBSE schools. The order came on the proposal of Indore Collector Ashish Singh, who has appointed Joint Collector Vijay Kumar Mandloi as temporary District Education Officer in order to make the working of the department uninterrupted.
According to reports, scores of complaints were being heard during the public hearings conducted at the Collectorate on issues faced by students and parents of more than 250 private CBSE schools in Indore, but the DEO continued to be missing, which brought increasing frustration for the complainants.
These schools together serve almost eight lakh students, and it is estimated that prominent CBSE schools in Indore charge Rs 150 to Rs 200 crore every year in fees from students of all classes - from LKG to Class 12. Even with such exorbitant fees, parents and students are frequently subjected to coercive conduct by school managements. Parents complain that if they voice concerns regarding school regulations or insist on their rights, school administrators and principals threaten to expel their children during the middle of the term.
Likewise, teachers and employees working in such schools are reportedly intimidated and coerced. Various teachers have complained that raising voice regarding fundamental rights or administrative problems has resulted in abrupt termination of their services without notice or justification, shattering their professional continuity.
Angered by this high-handedness, parents, teachers, and school employees have tried to seek redressal, but say no dedicated CBSE official is present in Indore. They are usually informed by local officials that issues pertaining to private CBSE schools are not within their jurisdiction.
Adding to the problem is the lack of a CBSE regional office in Indore. Currently, the sole CBSE office in Madhya Pradesh is in Bhopal, which handles almost 2,500 CBSE-affiliated schools in the state. People affected in Indore complain that they cannot spare the time and money involved in going to Bhopal again and again to register and pursue complaints.
To meet this, Indore citizens are now demanding that Indore be made a separate CBSE office city and that CBSE officers also attend bi-weekly public hearings at the Collector's office. They have also asked the authorities to open a special grievances cell within the Collectorate for registering and sending complaints from parents, educators, and school staff to CBSE offices in Bhopal and Delhi and enabling local monitoring of resolution of complaints.
This bureaucratic overhaul and popular demand mirror increasing apprehensions regarding the unbridled freedom of private CBSE schools and the pressing necessity for institutional accountability mechanisms at the district level.
The suspension of DEO Sushma Vaish is being interpreted as a warning to other administrative officers to pay heed to public complaints, particularly when they relate to education and the welfare of children. Indore Collector Ashish Singh was quoted as having expressed dismay over the growing number of complaints from parents and teachers that were not being heard, saying that issues related to education need to be prioritized in public hearings, particularly in a city like Indore with a huge network of private schools.
In the meantime, education activists and parent groups have appreciated the prompt action by the district administration but emphasized the necessity of systemic change. According to them, without effective monitoring and accountability, private CBSE schools tend to function as independent entities where there is little concern for equitable treatment of parents, students, or employees. "We need transparent redressal mechanisms and periodic audits of CBSE schools to safeguard educational rights," a representative of a local parents' group stated.
