Hyderabad, June 24: Parents voiced their frustrations over the rising fees in schools at the public hearing held by the Fee Regulatory Committee at Public Gardens here on Tuesday. The discussion, which was dominated by school managements
initially, got into an aggressive mode with many parents demanding
their turn to present their suggestions to the committee. “The Meridian School has increased the fee by 133 per cent, while the Delhi Public Schools in Secunderabad and Hyderabad have hiked the fee by 93 per cent and 144 per cent respectively. This is the information we have collected about reputed schools. Then again, even the schools that used to be affordable have increased the tuition fee enormously,” a parent Krishna Murthy said in an agitated tone. Apart from increasing the fee, most schools are also insisting that parents purchase everything from the uniform to bags, notebooks and shoes from their stores, some others said. Parents also alleged that a majority of schools do not have mandatory consultations with parents before making any revision or changes in the fee structure. “According to government orders, each school should constitute a committee with teachers and parents to decide on the quantum of hike. Not even a single school is following these orders,” said another parent M Sudhakar. And the blame game began. Small and medium
school representatives accused corporate schools like Narayana and Sri Chaitanya of commercialising school education. “The entry of these corporate schools sounded a death knell to many schools. In the past seven years these corporate schools have acquired around 1,050 recognised schools throughout the state,” Janardhan Reddy, member of AP Recognised Schools Association alleged. He also remarked that all this was happening right under the nose of education officials, who have turned a blind eye. Pointing out the inefficiency of the Education Department, Progressive Democratic Students Union (PDSU) State secretary Dayakar said, “It is unfortunate that the government’s involvement with private schools is only at the time of granting approval, recruitment of staff and renewal of school recognition certificate. Unlike government and aided schools, private schools do not have to submit their annual accounts to the State Education Department.” MLC Nageshwar called for a regulatory law on the lines of the rent acts in order to curb the crass commercialisation of school education. The Fee Regulatory Committee, which was deputed to review the existing norms of private schools, noted down the points suggested by various stakeholders in school education. The panel members assured that they would consider all the representations in order to come with a better Fee Regulatory Act.
–Agencies–