New private schools, including those to be set up by Christian missionaries, must have managing committees, like state-aided institutions.

The state government is poised to make it mandatory for new ICSE/ISC and CBSE schools to have managing committees, without which the founders will not be issued no-objection certificates (NOCs), a must for affiliation with the Delhi-based boards.

The move follows complaints of retrenchment from teachers of several non-Anglo Indian private schools over the past few years, sources in the state education department said.

“The act the government is planning to formulate to monitor the functioning of private schools is likely to have a clause on the indispensability of the managing committee,” said an official.

The government last week sent a circular to all private schools, including the missionary-run ones, with a list of suggestions for better management of the institutes. The formation of the managing committee is among them.

“The government thinks the managing committee is a guarantee against the school authorities deciding on crucial issues unilaterally,” said H.P. Das, principal, St Stephens’ School and secretary of the Barrackpore diocese of the Church of North India (CNI).

“The circular suggests that the schools will not be allowed to take action against a teacher or a non-teaching employee without the managing committee’s approval,” he added.

Herod Mullick, general secretary of Bangiya Christiya Pariseba, an association of the founder-bodies of missionary-run schools, said: “The government wants all issues related to the school administration to be discussed by the managing committees.”

Mullick, however, said the government had assured the missionary institutions that the “final decision” would be taken only after they come out with their views. “A meeting of the founder-bodies of the missionary schools will be convened in the New Year.”

The other suggestions of the government are on the recruitment policy, teachers’ salaries, infrastructure and the standard of education.

As for recruitment policy, the government wants private schools to appoint teachers “solely on the basis of merit”.