Fee hike: State govt puts riders on private schools

AHMEDABAD: Schools in Gujarat will not be able to hike fees in an ad hoc manner from next year. In a first, the state government has passed a resolution which gives specific guidelines to all schools, including private ones affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education ( CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), among others.

The government resolution (GR), which will come into force from June 2013, states schools can set their own fee standard at the beginners' level - either junior KG or class I - so that parents can decide if the infrastructure is worth the fee. This will also help in deciding if it fits into their family budget. Besides, the fee can only be increased annually and not more than 10%. "We had no rules to take action against schools which affected rampant fee hikes," said primary education secretary R P Gupta. "Expect harsh measures against those who don't follow the guidelines." There are some 8,000 private primary schools in the state.

In the past year, parents have agitated over fee hike of more than 15% implemented by a number of private schools. One school had even affected a 25% hike.

"This is a good decision as it will allow us to plan our annual budgets. My daughter's school fee was hiked from Rs 80,000 last year to Rs 1.05 lakh this year. Such hikes are unaffordable even for the affording class," said a senior executive of a multinational company.

With the GR being issued, educationists are concerned about how many schools will actually implement the hike and how the government plans to monitor its enforcement. P 3

TEACHERS TO GAIN

The government resolution (GR), issued by the state education department, says that all teachers will have to be paid salaries through salary bank accounts. This will curb exploitation of teachers by many school managements who pay them peanuts - 1,500 to 4,000 only in cash The Sixth Pay Commission norms will be implemented by all schools, irrespective of the board and their affiliation with the government. This means better pay packets for teachers.

 

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30 million Indian school children have no access to toilets: Study

NEW DELHI: Nearly 30 million school children in the country still have no access to toilets, even as schools have made significant progress in providing the facility in recent years, a study by UNICEF's Water, Sanitation, Hygiene(WASH) programme revealed Wednesday.

Most schools are also found wanting in teaching of hygiene and life skills.

According to the paper released by WASH, though the proportion of schools having toilets has increased from 50 per cent to nearly 75 per cent in last five years, only 60 per cent of schools have girls' toilets, a factor which has been noticed to be a major deterrent in girls attending schools. Also where the toilets are available, only one or two are usable.

"About 30 million children across India do not have access to toilet facilities," the paper said.

"More than 90 per cent schools have drinking water facility, but only 80 per cent are functional. The majority of school curriculum lack focus on hygiene and life skill education," it further said.

The figures given by WASH reveal that a total 6.50 million children (3.46 per cent of the total children enrolled in schools) have no drinking water facility.

The Right to Education Act (RTE) requires all schools to have separate toilets for boys and girls and adequate safe drinking water facility.

The Supreme Court had also given a ruling in December 2011, stating that all schools must provide toilet facilities, and denial of basic right to water and toilet "clearly violates the right to free and compulsory education".

The study also says promoting simple handwashing can reduce child morbidity from diarrhoeal diseases by 44 per cent.

According to UNICEF figures, globally, around 2.65 billion people live without access to proper toilet facilities and 883 million don't have access to safe water.

Education specialist at UNICEF Raka Rashid says promoting hygiene habit during school years may last for life and be beneficial in preventing several health problems. It also improves school attendance, girls participation and their health.

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