LALITPUR: The Lalitpur District Education Office has shut down as many as 27 private schools after it was discovered that they were not in operation even after their registration.

District Education Officer (DEO) Dilnath Puri stated that the schools registered for primary, lower secondary and secondary levels have been shut down.

However, seven of these schools have claimed that they are functioning.

After an investigation, DEO Puri said, it was revealed that the school owners had held the registered schools so that they could later choose between run them later or sell, whichever would be more beneficial.

The names of the schools would be made public on August 17 after discussing the issue with the stakeholders including organisations of private school operators, including PABSON and NPABSON, Puri informed.

In mid-November last year, the DEO had formed team to investigate such schools. Based on its report, the Department of Education had directed the DEO to close the schools with zero students by mid-July.