Hyderabad, July 04: In a development that would bring respite to thousands of parents whose children are enrolled in private schools, the five-member Fee Regulatory Committee has prescribed a maximum fee limit of Rs 24,000 per student per annum for primary education and Rs 30,000 for high school. The hikes are to be effected only from the next academic year. It also made some farreaching recommendations related to fixing of fee, multiple heads of fee, transportation and sale of books and stationery by schools.
The committee submitted its report to the School Education department on Friday evening. A member of the committee and Commissioner of Collegiate Education, Luv Agarwal says: ‘‘We have suggested the limits after studying the accounting practices in schools. But this does not mean that all the schools can collect the maximum prescribed amount.
The fee would be decided after taking into account the legitimate expenditure incurred by the school. In any case it should not exceed the prescribed limit.’’ The committee members have suggested that there would not be any fee hike for the current academic year. ‘‘In the case of schools which have already collected the fee, they should adjust it for the next term,’’ he reveals.
Recommendations
* Upper limit of the total fee – Primary:
Rs 24,000, High School: Rs 30,000
* Tuition fee to include charges for all
extra-curricular activities too
* Fee hike only from next academic year
* Mandatory meeting of Parents and
Teachers Association
* Transport fee should be collected on
the basis of distance, unlike the existing
single charge for all.
* No labels like talent, techno, model,
e-school
* Mess facility should be optional
* Buying of uniform and stationery,
including textbooks, from school to be
optional.
* Advertisement expenditure of schools
should not be collected in the form of
any fee.
The committee, which was constituted on June 18, has also suggested removing tags like Techno, Talent, Model, e-school and international before the names of the schools. ‘‘We cannot have different labels like this which may give an impression that the children are in different streams though they are all under one education system,’’ Agarwal explains.
Another important suggestion is making the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) meeting mandatory.
The meeting will decide the fee structure and forward it to the respective district fee regulatory committee by September. The committee, in turn, will convey its opinion on the proposal to the secondary education department.
The final clearance from the department will come in December.
‘‘If the school fails to implement this rule, it will be derecognised,’’ Agarwal says.
The members have also suggested that schools should not be allowed to collect tuition fee under multiple heads. There should be one tuition fee and a proper receipt should be given after collecting it. This suggestion has been made in view of several complaints by parents that school managements are fleecing them by forcing them to opt for a plethora of extra-curricular activities.
The schools should also not try to recover their advertising and development expenditure from students under any label. ‘‘We have come across some schools that have collected hefty development fees from students in order to start their new branches,’’ Luv Agarwal points out.
The PTAs should report any such attempts by schools to the district fee regulatory committee.
As regards transport fee, the committee has suggested a slab system.
‘‘It is not fair to charge the students who come from different distances equally. The fee should correspond to each student’s travel distance, says Hyderabad District Collector Navin Mittal who is also a member of the committee.
The committee, in its 14-page report, has also suggested that buying uniform and stationery, including textbooks, from schools should be made optional.
–Agencies–