The management of 335 private high schools and inter-colleges in Etah closed down their institutes and went on an indefinite strike on Monday in protest against the reported move of the administration to cancel the affiliation of 127 institutes.

According to sources, the affiliation has allegedly been cancelled as the 127 institutes — government-aided and self-financed — submitted forged documents to obtain recognition from the UP Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad.

“The decision to shut the institutes was taken in a meeting, which was attended by the management and the principals of all colleges,” said Goman Singh, general secretary of the UP Madhyamik Shiksha Sangh — an organisation of teachers.

According to Singh, the team, which conducted the inquiry and detected the alleged use of forged documents, never met the representatives of the concerned colleges.

“If the inquiry team found that wrong documents had been submitted to obtain recognition, the institutes should have either been informed about it or should have been given sometime to correct those papers,” said Singh.

Of the 335 institutes in Etah, 281 are self-financed and 54 schools are government-aided. The district also has six government colleges and their teachers have expressed solidarity with the private institutes. Over 3 lakh students study in these institutes.

Last month, District Magistrate of Etah, Gaurav Goel, had formed a committee to conduct a survey and cross-check the documents of the educational institutes.  During the survey, it was found that 127 institutes had submitted forged documents to obtain recognition.

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