Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said at IIMUN’s Youth Connect session that BMC schools are good, and many of them are even better than private schools. They have strong infrastructure, effective teaching and learning methods, and access to modern gadgets. According to him, the decrease in student numbers is not due to the quality of BMC schools, but because earlier there were very few private schools, so people were largely dependent on government and BMC schools. Today, private schools have grown on a large scale, which has led to an increase in the number of available options. As a result, many parents are more influenced by private schools.
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Fadnavis shared an example from his previous term as Chief Minister, when a major campaign was conducted to improve district schools by upgrading teaching and learning systems and providing extensive training. The outcome, he said, was that in 2018, around 2 lakh children left private schools and shifted to district schools. He emphasised that private schools also do good work, have strong systems and train teachers well. However, many decisions are driven by perception—parents feel they have done something good for their child simply by sending them to a private school. While many private schools are indeed better than BMC schools, he stressed that this mindset needs to change.
Fadnavis stated that the government aims to elevate BMC schools to international standards. He expressed confidence that BMC has the capacity to achieve this with the right vision and assured that the government will provide that vision to transform BMC schools into institutions of global standards.