MUMBAI, Nov. 27 -- If all goes according to plan, children being educated in self-financed or private schools will have larger grounds to play in, spacious libraries and other facilities, as the state government is set to reverse its eight-year-old decision of letting private players set up schools on pieces of land measuring 500 square metres, or five gunthas, in cities. The government is considering reverting to the original Maharashtra Self-Financed School (Establishment and Regulation) Act 2013 which mandated that a private player have 2,000 square metres to set up a school. The recent amendment being considered also includes opening avenues for more national players to set up schools in Maharashtra. The move was necessitated after field officers, responsible for monitoring compliances by the schools, brought to the government's notice the many flaws in the amended law. The earlier 2013 Act mandated a requirement of 2,000 square metres land to set up a private school, which was reduced to 500 square metres in 2017 by an amendment by then Devendra Fadnavis government, by weeding out the need of dedicated playgrounds in schools, especially those in Mumbai, allowing institutions to be set up if there were a public ground next to it. Speaking about the move, an officer from the school education department said, "It has been found that schools on smaller land parcels (500 square metres) are unable to provide basic amenities such as space for extra-curricular activities to the students. Schools are also constrained to expand classrooms; some schools are even unable to expand to secondary divisions. Realising the lacunae we are tweaking the Act again." He added that the amendment is at a nascent stage and may take some time to come into force. The minimum requirement for CBSE, ICSE and other central board schools is 2,000 sqm. The amended law in Maharashtra was leading to a compromise in the teaching standards in schools set up on smaller land parcels, added the officer. Another officer from the department added that in tier 2 cities, such as Vasai Virar, Mira-Bhayander, schools are mushrooming on small spaces, "compromising on the basic standards". He added that the amendment in the provision is in line with the proposed regulatory law for the private coaching classes which will also be required to have a certain amount of space. The education department is also likely to amend the rules for permissions to self-financed schools. Presently, the final permission is given to schools within 18 months from the issuance of the letter of intent (LoI) on ascertaining the land. "During the tenure of Deepak Kesarkar (August 2022 to November 2024) LoI was given to a whopping 1500 self-financed schools, but only 300 of them could get final approval. We are now planning to make the rule for issuing LoI stricter, so that only reputed institutions who are already in the education sector, will get approvals," he said. "This will ensure that only serious players apply for the self-financed schools." There are 15,218 self-financed schools, of the total 108,000, in the state. There were 4,659 schools operational in December 2017 when the government amended the law. Welcoming the move, Kapil Patil, former legislator representing teachers, said: "The self-financed schools on smaller plots, which have mushroomed in the MMR, do not have basic amenities such as the playground, library, laboratory and space for socio-cultural activities. It restricts the comprehensive growth of the students. Amending the rule is necessary." S C Kedia, honorary secretary of the Unaided Schools' Forum (USF) of Maharashtra, agreed with Patil, as he emphasised on the 2,000 square metre move. "This is a welcome step. It will help if the government plans to allow more private players to enter the sector. We need more schools to improve literacy levels through quality education."...