June 21, 2013

Task Force raids on unrecognised schools - Parents Complain Over Exorbitant Fees

Guntur: Cracking the whip on mushrooming unauthorised private schools, Task Force teams conducted surprise raids in various districts on Wednesday. 

The drive against unauthorised schools was launched following complaints from parents and students over the collection of exorbitant fees by managements without providing basic facilities. The aim of the Task Force teams, comprising officials from the education, revenue and fire safety departments, is to identify and close down such educational institutions. The teams are not only issuing notices to the managements of schools, but also conducting awareness classes for parents and students waiting for admissions. Krishna district educational officer Devananda Reddy appealed to parents not to get their children admitted in unauthorised schools. He also asked school managements to immediately remove words like techno, Olympiad, e-school and global from their names. “The managements are trying to dupe innocent parents with attractive titles without even securing permission from the education department,” he said. 

The education department had already issued notices to around 150 unauthorised schools in Krishna district, of which 125 are located in the city. However, the department is not in a hurry to close down these illegal schools as it would affect the children already studying in them. 

In Guntur district, a task force headed by local tehsildar Tata Mohan Rao hasbeen conducting surprise inspections on illegal schools and imposing penalties to the tune of Rs 1 lakh for corporate schools and Rs 50,000 for small private schools. While several corporate schools are running many outlets with one licence, small schools do not have even basic infrastructure. 

In Nellore, 25 special Task Force teams headed by headmasters have been formed to inspect 633 schools in the district. 

“We have launched the drive against unauthorised schools as part of implementation of the Right to Education Act,” P Parvati, regional joint director, high school education, told TOI. She said special teams have been formed as nearly 11 of the 12 deputy DEO posts are laying vacant in the region.

June 18, 2013

Now, a cabinet sub-committee to regulate fees in private schools

HYDERABAD: The state cabinet on Monday decided to appoint a cabinet sub-committee to regulate tuition fee, term fee and other fees in private schools. In the backdrop of serious allegations that private schools are fleecing parents in the name of different categories of fee, the ministers requested chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy to rein in corporate schools. Agreeing to this, the chief minister directed that a cabinet sub-committee be constituted to examine the issue and submit recommendations to bring relief to parents.
Kiran Kumar Reddy also prevailed upon his cabinet colleagues to give their nod for his pet programme, Bangaru Thalli, a girl child protection initiative. The cabinet, which met here on Monday, approved the bill and decided to place the same before the Assembly on Tuesday.

Contentious issues like the beneficiary girl child should be born in government hospital and compulsory enrolment in government school till Class V have been dropped from the bill. Earlier, some ministers raised concern over these issues and pointed that these conditions would actually make the scheme unpopular.

Heeding to their advice, the CM agreed to drop the conditions to avail the scheme. On the advice of some ministers, it was decided to modify the bill so that the final benefits would be handed over to the girl only after she completes her graduation.

PCC president
Botsa Satyanarayana and Panchayat Raj minister K Jana Reddy earlier expressed their reservations on the special status given to Bangaru Thalli scheme. While Jana Reddy was conspicuous by his absence in the cabinet meeting, surprisingly, Botsa Satyanarayana did not raise any objection during the meeting.

The cabinet also cleared the proposal to reserve seats for backward classes in the panchayat elections on the basis of district population. Several ministers raised objections over conducting elections on the basis of statewide BC reservations. The chief minister then agreed to consider districtwise census to decide on the BC reservations for panchayat polls.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Now-a-cabinet-sub-committee-to-regulate-fees-in-private-schools/articleshow/20638844.cms

June 17, 2013

Eenadu | 17th June, 2013 | Front Page news

June 16, 2013

Eenadu | 16June2013 | Page5

Central Minister Pallam Raju says there is some movement @ the national level to come up with a regulation to control fee's in private schools.
 

June 8, 2013

Under pressure, Airoli school cancels fee hike, waives fines

After pressure from parents, VPM International school, Airoli, has agreed to not hike fees for 2013-14. It has also agreed to waive fines on students who paid the fees late.

In a statement e-mailed to HT on Wednesday, PM Kamath, honorary secretary and managing trustee of the school, stated, “We have already informed parents that we have accepted their request that the fees of 2012-13 will be continued in 2013-14 as well, though it causes us considerable revenue loss.” He added that the school agreed to waive fines, which were legal, as a goodwill gesture.

However, parents who have been fighting the fee hike  are not happy with the statement. “Our dispute was against hiked fees charged under heads like visual aid, computer and activity fees. We were already paying the term and tuition fees but the school had rejected our cheques,” said a parent.

Candle march against fee hike in schools

KANPUR: The agitated parents took out a candle march against fee hike in private schools from Bharat Mata Pratima in Ghantaghar here on Friday. Around 250 parents along with their wards participated in the candle march to mark their protest. The march started from Ghantaghar and ended at Gandhi Pratima, Phoolbagh after passing through areas like Nayagaj, Birhana Road etc. Parents demanded that the steep fee hike proposed by majority of city schools should be confined to the limits of common man. "Most of the schools have hiked their fee exorbitantly. Some have even doubled the fee making it difficult for middle class parents to send their children to private schools," said Amit Khanna, a parent.

Mohit Singh, another parent said the fee hike cannot be justified by any of the excuses given by the school management and 20% increase every year is a huge hike in fee. The hiked fee is a burden on board students who are already paying high tution fees for the preparations of competitive exams.

Sunil, a parent of two school going daughters said, "During the inflation and with other economic burdens, the unjust hike in fee is no less than an atrocity on the parents. It is time that the state government should come forward and lend us support against the unjust fee hike in the same way as in recent cases the government supported parents in states like Delhi and Haryana."

He added that unless and until the school authorities bring down the school fee, the parents will not pay the increased fees. Shristi, another parent, argued that if the schools are not able to provide enough facilities for the students then they have no right to hike fee.