India, Dec. 7 -- The school education department has commenced an assessment of existing self-financed schools in the state and suspended the process of approving new schools till the assessment is complete.

Maharashtra has around 22,000 self-financed schools, which are not dependent on government aid and follow the syllabi of state as well as central boards. Set up in the past ten years, these schools comprise around 20% of total schools, catering to nearly 22% of the students in the state. Proposals for 1,500 new schools are currently pending with the school education department.

While the government has no control over self-financed schools, complaints have been raised in several quarters about them charging steep fees and violating ...