They are required to register by Feb 2025 but process is murky due to contradictory rules, unclear instructions
As the deadline for preschool A registration approaches, owners are struggling to get Aclarity over the education department’s directive that mandates all preschools to register with the government before February 2025. Preschool owners say contradictory rules, unclear instructions and a lack of communication from authorities have made the registration process difficult.
The education department in February 2024 gave the preschools a year to comply. Its directive had warned that no unregistered preschool will be allowed to operate beyond the deadline.
However, there is still lot of confusion. Many preschools operate from bungalows, apartments, row houses and commercial complexes within residential societies. However, the government’s regulations have failed to specify whether they require an Educational, Commercial or Residential BU permission.
“Obtaining an educational BU permission takes around 5 months and costs anywhere between Rs 3.5 lakh and 5 lakh. However, once we obtain the educational BU, the owner of the place will insist on changing it to the previous BU permission if the preschool is being run out of rented premises and the rent contract ends,”said a preschool manager.
Fire NOC
Preschools with a building height under 9 meters or an area smaller than 500 square metres are exempt from obtaining a Fire Safety e Certificate (FSC). Instead, they are required to submit a self-declaration confirming compliance with fire safety norms. However, preschool owners say local authorities demand a fire NOC for all institutes. According to the directive, it is mandatory for preschools to provide a registered lease agreement with a 15-year duration. The registration fee structure has also raised concerns. Shrinivas, a preschool operator, said the directive instructs preschools to pay Rs 5000 per class. “However, we have request- ed authorities to amend it to Rs 5000 per school.”
Sagar Nayak, the spokesperson for the Preschool Association of Gujarat and the Gujarat Independent Preschool Association, said they are still struggling to get clarity on a lot of these issues despite multiple requests to the authorities. “Due to this, many preschool owners are selling their schools. However, people are not buying it because of these rules.”