Jaipur, Nov. 29 -- The state government is planning to set up a school standard authority to regularise monitoring of schools' compliance with safety standards across the state, a senior official said on Friday. Speaking to reporters, Anupama Jorwal, commissioner of the Samagra Shiksha Parishad in the state, said, "We held a meeting last week and decided to set up an authority to maintain the standards of both government and private schools. However, the composition of the committee is still uncertain and it is yet to be decided if it will be made autonomous or integrated into the education department." She added that the decision was per the provisions of the National Education Policy, that allowed states to form such an authority to comprehensively control the quality of education, syllabus, and safety in both government and private schools. "There are also some criteria regarding the schools that should be considered to bring under the supervision of the authority. We have identified over 100,000 such government and private schools. This authority may have up to 27 members including department directors, commissioners, and other officials along with some third party representatives. This will be finalised in a further meeting next week. Currently, we are reviewing the advice made by the NEP guidelines," said Jorwal. However, an association of parents has raised questions over the lack of parental representation in the proposed body. "No fairness can be expected from this authority unless they include parents' representatives," Abhishek Jain Bittu, president of the Rajasthan Samyukt Abhivavak Sangh, said in an official statement released on Thursday. The proposal was floated after two probe committees investigating the death of a 9-year-old girl by suicide at a private school in Jaipur on November 1 flagged several irregularities in the school's management and also in building maintenance, said officials. One panel was under the education department and under the Central Board of School Education (CBSE). "It is only the parents who face all the issues due to such mismanagement by the schools. We keep raising complaints but barely there is any response. It is unfair not to keep any of our representatives in this authority," Bittu added in his statement. He demanded provision for at least 5 parental representatives in the body. He also demanded the government expedite action against the private school involved in the nine-year-old's death....