U’khand government should promptly introduce fees act for pvt schools: Experts
Thursday, 24 October 2014 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The State government should introduce a fees act and ensure its proper enforcement to alleviate parents’ financial strain due to escalating fees in the private schools, the experts said. Particularly in Dehradun district, the private schools have been consistently fleecing the hapless parents by raising fees by 20 to 25 per cent annually.
The president of the National Association for Parents and Students Rights (NAPSR) Arif Khan said that that the State education department and the administration have remained apathetic towards addressing the escalating financial burden on parents caused by the annual fee hike at private institutions. “The government has maintained that the law in Uttar Pradesh allows schools to increase fees by 10 per cent every three years. But this is an ineffective lip- service while the ground reality is different. No school is adhering to this regulation and the officials, thought aware of things, choose to be sleeping over it. There is only one way to stop the private school management from fleecing parents with impunity and that is through bringing about a stringent fee regulation act in the State. Besides, it must be ensured that the criteria for determining fees in the act should be based on the quality of education rather than infrastructure,” he added.
Similarly, the chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCOCR) Geeta Khanna expressed concern over exorbitant fee hike being announced and implemented by the private school managements to the woe of the parents. “We met the director of the education department and the chief education officers (CEOs) from each district on this matter. During the meeting, I clarified the commission’s criteria for school fee increases in accordance with the rules,” she said.
She further said that a mere legislation of a fee act is not sufficient. “What we should go for instead is the establishment of a separate committee which would be empowered to oversee such issues. We have also asked the education minister to appoint an education nodal officer at the commission to oversee this matter more closely on a regular basis,” she added.
CEO Dehradun Pradeep Rawat said while speaking to this correspondent that the education department had instructed the officials concerned to inspect private schools regarding fee hikes. “However, the department can intervene with schools only when there is a specific law in place. The absence of such a law impedes the education department from taking action against those schools found to hike fees consistently each year, caring a damn for the parents’ plight. As per the guidelines, schools are permitted to raise fees by up to 10 per cent every three years. If a school exceeds this limit, the department summons a meeting with the particular school. But the main issue remains unaddressed. It is thus high time for the State government to step in with strict legislation to enable the department to address these issues appropriately,” he added.
