March 7, 2010

No fee hike in private schools, Maharashtra govt clarifies

Mumbai: The state education department has finally stepped in to rescue parents from the hefty fee hikes. The department has issued a clarification for its earlier government resolution (GR which says that schools are not authorised to hike fees until the high court order.

The new GR issued on March 4 further states that schools should follow the fee structure of the academic year 2008-09 and action will be taken if the order is not followed. “We have issued a clarification to the earlier GR as parents were uncertain,” said Sanjay Kumar, education secretary. “The GR prohibits private unaided schools to hike fees.”

Parents had claimed that the previous GR, issued on February 23, was ambiguous. “We complained about the GR and the education secretary agreed with us. He instructed the deputy secretary A Bhattalwar to issue a clarification,” said Jayant Jain, president of All India Federation of Parents Teachers Association.

However, for many parents the order comes too late as 90% of the private schools had hiked their fees in mid-September after the interim court order which had approved of the increase. “Those affected must lodge a complaint with the education department. The government will force the school to refund the fees,” said Jain.

Now schools are confused with the new GR. A principal from a suburban school said: “The GR says that schools cannot hike fees, but it doesn’t specify whether we should refund the hiked fees collected previously in August.”

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