GOA SCHOOL EDUCATION ACT, 1984

Act No. 15 of 1985

24th July, 1985

An Act to provide for better organisation and development of School Education in the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

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S.1 Short title, extent and commencement

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of Goa, Daman and Diu in the thirty fourth Year of the Republic of India as follows:--

(1) This Act may be called the Goa 1[***] School Education Act, 1984.

(2) It extends to the whole of the Union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu.

(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Administrator may, by notification, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act, and any reference to the commencement of this Act, in relation to any provision thereof shall be construed as a reference to the date on which that provision comes into force.

1. Omitted by Goa Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, for the followings:- ", Daman and Diu"

S.2 Definitions

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,--

(a) "Administrator" means the Administrator of the Union territory appointed by the President under article 239 of the Constitution;
(b) "Advisory Board" means the Board as constituted under section 24 of this Act;
(c) "aid" means any aid granted to a recognised school by the Administrator, or any other authority designated by the Administrator;
(d) "aided school" means a recognised private school which is receiving aid from the Administrator or any other authority designated by the Administrator;
(e) "appropriate authority" means the Administrator or any other officer authorised by him in this behalf;
(f) "Director" means the Director of Education, Government of Goa, Daman and Diu, and includes any other officer authorised by him to perform all or any of the functions of the Director under this Act;
(g) "employee" means a teacher and includes every other employe

S.3 Power of Administrator to specify the scales of pay of teachers of unaided schools

The Administrator shall by notification, specify the minimum scales of pay of the teachers of schools whether recognised or not.

S.4 Power of Government to regulate education in schools

1[(1) With a view to enable the Government to provide for the planned development of school education in Goa, every individual, association of individuals, Society or Trust, desiring to establish a school or to open additional classes in an existing school, shall, before establishing such school or opening additional classes in an existing school, as the case may be, apply to the Director in writing in such manner and on payment of such fees as may be prescribed.

5[(2) The Government may establish and maintain any school in the State or may permit any Society or Trust or local authority to establish and maintain any school in the State, subject to compliance with the provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder.]

Provided that the Director shall, if he is of the opinion that the number of schools existing in the zone or the area where the school is proposed to be established or where additional classes are proposed to be opened, are sufficient to meet the need

S.5 Recognition of schools

(1) The appropriate authority may, on an application made to it in the prescribed form and in the prescribed manner, recognise any school:

Provided that no school shall be recognised unless--

(a) it has such funds to ensure its financial stability which regulate payment of salaries and allowances and other benefits to its employees as prescribed;
(b) it has a scheme of management as required by section 6;
(c) it has suitable or adequate accommodation and sanitary facilities having regard, among other factors, to the number, age and sex of the pupils attending it;
(d) it provides for approved courses of study and efficient instructions;
(e) it has teachers with prescribed qualification;
(f) it has the prescribed facilities for physical education, library service, laboratory work, workshop practice and co-curricular activities; and
(g) it gives an undertaking that it will follow the provisions of this Act and t

S.6 Scheme of Management

Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any such law, the managing committee of every recognized school shall make, in accordance with the rules made under this Act a scheme of management for such school:

Provided that in the case of a recognised school which does not receive any aid, the scheme of management shall apply with such variations and modifications as may be prescribed.

S.7 Aid to recognised schools

(1) Any authority specified in clause (c) of section 2 may grant, out of the funds made available to it for the purpose, after due appropriation made by law as aid to recognized schools such sums of money as it may consider necessary:

Provided that no existing school receiving aid, immediately before the commencement of this Act, shall be eligible for continuance of such aid unless it complies with, within such period as may be specified by the aforesaid authority, the conditions specified in the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 5 and the rules made under this Act relating to the grant or continuance of such aid.

(2) The authority competent to grant the aid may stop, reduce, or suspend aid for violation of any of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder:

Provided that no such aid shall be stopped, reduce or suspended unless on a reasonable opportunity of showing cause against such stoppage, reduction or suspension has been given to the manag

S.8 Affiliations

(1) For the purpose of any public examination every recognized higher secondary school shall be affiliated to one or more of the Board or Council conducting such examinations and shall fulfill the conditions specified by the Board or Council in this behalf:

Provided that no Board or Council conducting any public examination shall affiliate any school unless such school has been recognized under this Act and such recognition is in force.

(2) The students of recognized higher secondary schools shall be prepared for, and presented to, the public examinations or such other form of evaluation held or made for the students of such schools.

(3) Save as otherwise provided in sub-section (2), the students of every recognized school shall be--

(a) prepared for, and presented to, such public examination as may be held by the Directorate or any other officer or authority specified by the Administrator, or
(b) subjected to such internal evaluation or a

S.9 School Property

(1) The Management of every aided school shall maintain in the prescribed form a proper record of its property and such record shall be kept for inspection at the time of regular schools inspection.

(2) No aided school shall transfer any property if, by such transfer, any of the facilities referred to in the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 5 is likely to be prejudicially affected.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no transfer, mortgage or lease of any movable or immovable property of an aided school, not being the property specified in rules, shall be made except with the previous permission of the appropriate authority:

Provided that where the appropriate authority omits or fails to dispose of the application for such permission within sixty days from the date or receipt of the application in this behalf the permission shall, on the expiry of the said period of sixty days, be deemed to have been granted.

S.10 School Fund and School Staff Account fund

(1) In every aided school, there shall be two Funds to be called, respectively, the "School Fund" and the "School Staff Account Fund".

(2) There shall be credited to the School Fund,--

(a) any aid (other than maintenance grant) granted under section 7;
(b) income other than income from fees accruing to the school;
(c) any other contributions, endowments and the like.

(3) There shall be credited to the School Staff Account Fund--

(a) the aid granted by the Administrator by way of maintenance grant;
(b) income accruing to the school by way of fees.

(4) The School Fund and all other funds, including the Pupils' Fund, established with the approval of the Administrator, shall be accounted for and operated in accordance with the rules made under this Act.

(5) In every recognized unaided school, there shall be a fund, to be called the "Recognised Unaided School Fund" and there shall be credited

S.11 Terms and conditions of service of employees of recognized private schools

(1) The Government may make rules regulating the recruitment, minimum qualifications for recruitment, and the conditions of service of employees of recognized private schools.

1[ ]

2[(1A) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act or the rules framed thereunder or any law for the time being in force or any notification, regulation, decree, Order, Circular, Judgment or instructions, 3{every employee of a recognized private school, whether aided or not, shall retire at the age of 60 years }.]

4[(2) Subject to any rules that may be made in this behalf, no employee of an aided school shall be dismissed, removed, reduced in rank, compulsorily retired or his service otherwise terminated, except with the prior approval of the Director.

(2a) Where the managing committee of an unaided minority school is satisfied that immediate action against an employee of unaided minority school is necessary by reason of the gross misconduct within th

S.12 Employees to be governed by a Code of Conduct

(1) Every employee of a recognized school shall be governed by such Code of Conduct as may be prescribed and on the violation of any provision of such Code of Conduct, the employee shall be liable to such disciplinary action as may be prescribed.

(2) The Code of conduct shall prescribe, among other things, that no employee shall:--

(a) neglect his duties in teaching or curricular activities;
(b) propagate anti-national, communal, caste or sectarian outlook;
(c) make discrimination among the students;
(d) indulge in malpractices connected with examination;
(e) be irregular in attending the school;
(f) accept any object of remunerative character from any source;
(g) prepare or publish any book known as keys or guides;
(h) engage himself as selling agent of any publishing firm;
(i) indulge in political activities within the school premises or incite the students in violent activities;

S.13 Salaries of employees

The scales of pay and allowances, pension, gratuity, provident fund and other prescribed benefits of the employees of a recognized private school shall not be less than those of the employees of the corresponding status in schools run by the Government:

Provided that where the scales of any pay and allowances, pension, gratuity, provident fund and other prescribed benefits of the employees of any recognized private school are less than those of the employees of the corresponding status in the schools run by the Government, the Director shall direct, in writing, the managing committee of such school to bring the same up to the level of those of the employees of the corresponding status in schools run by the Government:

Provided further that the failure to comply with the such direction shall be deemed to be non-compliance with the conditions for continuing recognition of an existing school and the provisions of section 5 shall apply accordingly:

Provided also th

S.14 Omitted

1[Omitted]

1. Omitted by the Amendment Act 1 of 1989.

S.15 Power to prescribe minimum qualifications for recruitment

The Government may make rules regulating the minimum qualifications for, and method of recruitment of employees of unaided minority schools:

Provided that no qualification shall be varied to the disadvantage of an existing employee of an unaided minority school.

S.16 Power to prescribe Code of Conduct

Every employee of an unaided minority school shall be governed by such Code of Conduct as may be prescribed.

S.17 Contract of service

(1) The managing committee of every unaided minority school shall enter into a written contract of service with every employee of such school:

Provided that if, at the commencement of this Act, there is no written contract of service in relation to any existing employee of an unaided minority school, the managing committee of such school shall enter into such contract within a period of three months from such commencement:

Provided further that no contract referred to in the foregoing proviso shall vary to the disadvantage of any existing employee the term of any contract subsisting at the commencement of this Act between him and the school.

(2) A copy of every contract of service referred to in sub-section (1) shall be forwarded by the managing committee of the concerned unaided minority school to the Director who shall, on receipt of such copy, register it in such manner as may be prescribed.

(3) Every contract of service referred to in sub-section (1)

S.18 Admission to recognized schools

(1) A child who has not attained the age of five years on or before the 1[5th day of September] of the year in which the admission of such child is sought shall not be admitted to class I, or an equivalent class or any class higher than class I, in a recognized school.

2[Provided that a child who has not attained the age of five years on or before the 1st day of June of the year two thousand and one, shall not be admitted to class I, or an equivalent class or any class higher than class I in a recognised school in the year two thousand and one;]

3[Provided further that from the 1st day of June of the year two thousand and two, a child who has not attained the age of five years and six months, 4{on or before the 1st day of June of the year in which the admission of such child is sought}, shall not be admitted to class I, or an equivalent class or any class higher than class I, in a recognised school 5{ }:]

6{ }

(2) A student seeking admission for the firs

S.19 Fees and other charges

(1) No aided school shall levy any fee or collect any other charge or receive any other payment except those specified by the Director.

(2) Every aided school having different rates of fees or other charges or different funds shall obtain prior approval of the prescribed authority before levying such fees or collecting such charges or creating such funds.

(3) The manager of every unaided recognized school shall, before the commencement of each academic session, file with the Director a full statement of the fees and the charges to be levied by such school with the approval of the Director during the ensuing academic session, and except with the prior approval of the Director, no such school shall charge during the academic session, any fee in excess of the fee specified by its manager in the said statement.

1[(4) Any person/persons or Society or Trust, as the case may be, which collects fees or any other charges or receives any other payment beyond the prescrib

S.20 Taking over management of school

(1) Whenever the Administrator is satisfied that the managing committee or manager of any recognized school,--

(i) has contravened any provision of this Act or of any rule or order made thereunder, or
(ii) has neglected to perform any duty or obligation imposed on it by or under this Act, or
(iii) has mismanaged the affairs of the school or has misappropriated or has misapplied any money standing to the credit of any Fund of the School, or
(iv) has managed the affairs of the schools in a manner prejudicial to the public interest, or
(v) has omitted or neglected to pay its share towards the medical facility, pension, gratuity, provident fund, and other prescribed benefits of the employees of the school, in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 13, or
(vi) has closed down the school or any class or section of the school in contravention of the rules made under this Act or any order, direction issued ther

S.21 Section 20 not to apply to unaided minority schools

Nothing contained in section 20 shall apply to an unaided minority school.

S.22 Appeal

(1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), an appeal shall lie to the Tribunal from the following orders:

a) refusing to recognize a school under sub-section (2) of section 5;
b) withdrawing the recognition of a school under sub-section (3) of section 5;
c) stopping, reducing or suspending aid under sub-section (2) of section 7;
d) refusing to grant permission under sub-section (3) of section 9;
e) 1[dismissing, removing from service any employee or reducing him in rank or retiring him compulsorily or otherwise terminating his services under sub-sections (2), (2a), (4) and (4a) as the case may be, of section 11.]

(2) Every such appeal shall be preferred within thirty days from the date of communication of the order:

Provided that the Tribunal may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from preferring the

S.23 Offence and punishment

(1) If the manager of any recognized private school,--

(a) omits or fails, without any reasonable excuse, to carry out any order made by the Tribunal, or
(b) causes or authorizes any student to be presented by the school for any public examination without complying with the provisions of section 8, or
(c) omits or fails to deliver any school property to the Administrator or any officer authorized by him under sub-section (2) of section 20, or
(d) contravenes any provision of the Act or any rule made there under, or
(e) omits or fails to furnish any information to any inspecting authority or furnishes any information to that authority which is incorrect or false in material particulars, or
(f) omits or fails to produce any book, register or other document to the inspecting authority, or
(g) prevents any inspecting authority from entering into the premises of the school or from conducting any inspection or inquiry, he

S.24 Advisory Board

(1) There shall be constituted an advisory board to be called the Goa, Daman and Diu School Education Board (hereinafter referred to as the Advisory Board) for the purpose of advising the Government on matters of policy relating to education in the Union territory.

(2) The composition of the Advisory Board shall be as follows, namely:--

(a) the Chairman of the Goa, Daman and Diu Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, ex officio;
(b) three persons, who are the heads of recognized private schools;
(c) 1[four] representatives of organizations of teachers of recognized private schools;
(d) three representatives of the managements of recognised private schools;
(e) the Director, who shall be the Secretary to the Advisory Board;
(f) the Principal of one of the colleges in the Union territory;
(g) two members of the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory to be nominated by the Speaker;
(h)

S.25 Delegation of Powers

(1) The Administrator may delegate all or any of his powers, duties and functions under this Act or under any rules made thereunder to the Director or any other Officer subordinate to him.

(2) Every person to whom any power is delegated under sub-section (1), may exercise that power in the same manner and with the same effect as if such power had been conferred on him directly by this Act and not by way of delegation.

S.26 Inspection of Schools

(1) Every recognized school shall be inspected at least once in each financial year in such manner as may be prescribed.

(2) The Director may also arrange special inspections of any school on such aspects of its working as may, from time to time, be considered necessary by him.

(3) The Director may give directions to the manager requiring the manager to rectify any defect or deficiency found at the time of inspection or otherwise in the working of the school.

(4) If the manager fails to comply with any direction given under sub-section (3), the Director may, after considering the explanation or report, if any, given or made by the manager, take such action as he may think fit, including,--

(a) stoppage of aid,
(b) withdrawal of recognition, or
(c) except in the case of an unaided minority school, taking over of the school under section 20.

S.27 Jurisdiction of Civil courts barred

No Civil Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of any matter in relation to which the Administrator or the Director or any other person authorised by the Administrator or Director or any other officer or authority appointed or specified by or under this Act, is empowered by or under this Act to exercise any power, and no injunction shall be granted by any civil court in respect of anything which is done or intended to be done by or under this Act.

S.28 Protection of action taken in good faith

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Administrator, Director or any other person authorised by the Administrator or Director for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or any rule made thereunder.

S.29 Power to make rules

(1) The Administrator may, subject to the condition of previous publication, by notification, make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.

(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:--

(a) the manner in which education may be regulated by the Government in the Union territory;
(b) the conditions which every existing school shall be required to comply;
(c) establishment of a new school or the opening of a higher class or the closing down of an existing class in an existing school;
(d) the form and manner in which an application for recognition of a school shall be made;
(e) the facilities to be provided by a school to obtain recognition;
(f) the manner in which, and the authority to which an appeal against the refusal or withdrawal of recognition shall be made;
(g) the minimum qualifications for,

S.29A Removal of doubts

1[For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that notwithstanding anything contained in any law, rules, regulations, notifications, decree, order or judgment of any Court, authority or Tribunal, a permission granted prior to the coming into force of this Act in municipal areas for opening class I or class V in any school shall be construed as permission to open classes upto IV or X respectively and the same shall be applicable to Village Panchayat areas after due assessment by committee appointed by the department of the need for the higher class is carried out.]

1. Inserted by the Amendment Act 26 of 2000.

S.30 Power to remove difficulties

If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Government may by order not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, remove the difficulty:

Provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of the period of two years from the commencement of this Act.