Odisha sees surge in unrecognised private schools to over 1,200

Bhubaneswar: The number of unrecognised privately-run schools in the state have swelled from 428 in 2016 to over 1,200 in 2025, according to data from the ministry of education.Across the country, a total of 19,518 unrecognised schools were operating during the 2024-25 academic session.

Jharkhand tops the list with 5,701 such schools, followed by Bihar with 4,159, West Bengal with 3,555, Assam with 2,475, and Odisha with 1,242 schools.Sources said these schools have been operating for several years either without an opening permission or a certificate of recognition (CoR), despite the school and mass education department directing them repeatedly to comply with the required parameters.According to the department’s data, there are 510 schools running without opening permission and 732 schools functioning without CoR.

Nuapada, Puri, Dhenkanal and Jajpur districts do not have such schools.Section 19 of the RTE Act, 2009, stipulates that schools established before the commencement of the Act and not fulfilling the norms shall take steps to fulfil then within three years from the date of commencement of the law. The Act also mandates that if such schools fail to fulfil the norms, their recognition shall be withdrawn, and the schools shall cease to function.

President of the National Parents’ Federation, Bhumohan Bebarta Patnaik, said the norms are not being followed in true letter and spirit by these schools. He said studying in such schools deprives the students of applying for govt scholarships or securing admission to any public school in the country.CoR is provided for a period of five years. There are several rules, including infrastructure requirements, manpower and RTE Act reservation, that a school has to meet to get opening permission and CoR.

“Deviation from even one rule disqualifies them from getting a CoR, but on the plea of fulfilling these norms, the schools keep delaying the application process while continuing admissions year after year,” he said.Commissioner-cum-secretary of the department, N Thirumala Naik, said that they are considering keeping the window for applications for opening permission and CoR open throughout the year. Earlier, the window was open for a fortnight to one month. “This will increase the number of applications for the purpose,” he said.