School fee hikes in AP

Eenadu | Main Page | 31st May, 2011

Citizen manifesto asks for fee-less schools in return for votes

CHENNAI: Activists demanded that free and quality education and healthcare be made the right of every citizen on Thursday. Releasing the citizen manifesto, members of the State Platform for Common School Syllabus (SPCSS) declared that people would vote for the party that includes these demands in their election manifesto and has the political will to implement it. 

The manifesto demanded free, compulsory and quality education for all from kindergarten to postgraduation. The SPCSS called for feeless' schools as recommended by the Kothari Commission, but till that goal is achieved it demanded that the party that wins the election prohibit the commercialisation of education. The manifesto suggested that fees of all students studying in the schools of an educational district be collected through a bank and then transferred to the accounts of the respective school. Teacher salaries should also be transferred in this manner. "This will reduce the interaction of the parents with the schools and prevent conflicts," the manifesto said. 

When the government made public the fee structures of individual schools as determined by the fee committee, parents told schools saying that they would only pay this fees and not the amounts asked by school managements. But now with the academic year coming to a close, some schools are coercing parents into paying the fee demanded by them by threatening that they will not allow their children to write the annual exam. "Parents will vote for the political party that assures them that it would implement the recommendations of the fee committee," said S Arumainathan, president, Tamil Nadu Federation of Students-Parents Welfare Associations. 

"It is our Constitutional right to not just have an animal survival, but to live life with dignity. To live a life of dignity and to improve their lifestyle people should be able to spend on things like visiting historical places with the family, acquiring knowledge by purchasing books and having a library. But today a person with earning capacity is gauged by the amount of money he is able to spend on quality education and healthcare, both of which should be provided free of cost by the government," said general secretary of the SPCSS Prince Gajendra Babu. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Citizen-manifesto-asks-for-fee-less-schools-in-return-for-votes/articleshow/7907698.cms

Principals may face jail for fee hikes

MUMBAI: Schools hiking fees unreasonably could face stringent punishment. Apart from de-recognition, representatives on its management committee could face imprisonment and a fine. The state school education department is finalizing a draft of the proposed legislation meant to regulate fee hikes.

The government is keen to introduce the legislation after complaints against schools regarding exorbitant fee hikes. The state government had introduced a government resolution (GR) in July 15 last year. Last September, it was set aside by the Bombay high court, saying schools could decide fees.

Contending that the court ruling against it was on technical grounds, the government decided to introduce legislation to regulate fee hikes. An expert panel was set up to study the regulatory mechanism in place in Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh. The panel studied court judgments and rulings in relation to the case.

On the basis of its inputs, the department formulated a draft for the proposed legislation. Even as it is being given final touches, senior department officials shared light on the draft`s basic structure.

Similar to the Tamil Nadu model, the state plans committees headed by retired judges to regulate hikes. While managements can fix school fees, a hike will have to be ratified by the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA). If the latter finds it unreasonable, it could approach a committee, which will be divisional or district-level. The committee, comprising a retired judge, an official from the school board, and another person, will decide on the reasonability of the hike.

Faujiya Khan, minister of state for school education, said the draft was yet to be finalized.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Principals-may-face-jail-for-fee-hikes/articleshow/7220010.cms

Dont charge development fee, private school told

GURGAON: A long battle of parents against Chiranjeev Bharti School in Gurgaon over developmental fee has ended into a pyrrhic victory of sorts for them as the school has been ordered to not to take the monthly development fee of Rs 1600. However, the bigger question of whether private schools can charge such a fee in a different manner continues to remain unaddressed. 

Sanjeev Yadav, who led the fight against the private school in Palam Vihar, said that he was happy with the new order but will celebrate only once the development fee collected by the school in the past was returned to the parents. 

We are happy that the school now can not charge developmental fee but what about the money that we have paid so far, said Yadav who mobilised the parents and collected signatures from 500 parents for the campaign. My three children study in this school and in past ten years I have paid over Rs 40,000 as developmental fee in addition to the other charges, he added. 

On the basis of parents complaints, the issue was brought up in the public grievance committee meeting on November 16 where minister for Power Mahender Partap Singh ordered the school to stop charging the fee from the next academic session and adjust the charges taken this year proportionately into the fee in future. Earlier, the issue was probed by SDM Gurgaon (North) Satender Duhan who indicted the school on fee hike. 

I am aware of the order given by the minister but the school management is yet to work out how to repay the developmental charges paid by the parents this year, said Rashi Narula, principal of the school. 

Yadav claimed that the school authorities had no justifications for developmental fee. The school kept collecting money from thousands of students every year and no one objected to it. While in past the fee was Rs 500, school administration suddenly raised it to Rs 1600. People like me, whole have more than one children studying there cant afford to pay this money, he said. 

But when asked about justification of developmental charges, she had something different to say: Every school charges such fee at the time of admission but in our school we charge it every year. Now on we will change the fee structure accordingly. 

With school management still adamant on charging the fee, the tussle looks far from over. Parents can file complaints about any private schools asking for developmental charges and I will take appropriate action against the school, district education officer Jyoti Chaudhary said. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/Dont-charge-development-fee-private-school-told/articleshow/6957100.cms