The committee set up by the state government to oversee the functioning of private English-medium schools was forced to declare on Tuesday that it would not interfere in the functioning of the 375-odd institutions under the scanner.

The committee also granted the schools another month's time to submit details of their operations to the government. They had not responded to a questionnaire sent by the committee in November. The institutions had then been given a month's deadline.

'I will start writing to each school individually and explain that we have no intention of meddling in their internal administration. We will request the managements to cooperate with us and furnish the necessary information,' Ardhendu Sekhar Biswas, commissioner, school education department, said after a meeting of the 13-member committee.

He is also the chairman of the panel, consisting of representatives from the ICSE and CBSE boards, principals, teachers and academicians.

The meeting was convened to review the reasons behind the schools' reluctance to reply to the questionnaire.

Hardly half-a-dozen schools have got back to the panel following receipt of the questionnaire, and that, too, only to seek more time to furnish their responses.

The committee has also decided to approach guardians, teachers and students for their opinions on whether the government should monitor the functioning of the private institutions.

'We will wait for one more month for the responses from the schools, before appealing to the guardians, teachers and students,' stated Biswas.

The government is worried about the delay on the part of the schools because it will have to collate the data before the Assembly elections to avoid pressure from the Opposition, which demanded the setting up of the committee.

The questionnaire deals with infrastructure, fees, performance of students, policies for admission and recruitment and teachers' salaries.