Parents suffer due to private schools’ monopoly in Haryana

SEVERAL SCHOOLS SAY NO TO CASHLESS TRANSACTIONS, RECOMMEND BOOKS WRITTEN BY PRIVATE AUTHORS

KARNAL: In the lack of clear guidelines by the Haryana government, the private schools in the region are making the most of the helplessness of parents and charging hefty amounts in the name of better education.

Several schools are not following the guidelines and students from Class 5 to 12 are being told to purchase books written by private authors, which cost three times more than the books prescribed by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). “I have to spend Rs 3,600 for books of private authors as the school teachers said that they will not teach from the NCERT books, which could be purchased at Rs 900,” said a student of Class 12 of DAV school at Radaur in Yamunanagar district, on condition of anonymity.

“This year again we are being told to deposit Rs 7,600 for admission in Class 12, even as I had paid similar amount for the admission in Class 11,” he added.

Moreover, parents are complaining that some schools disregard the government’s guidelines and are asking the students to buy books only from their school as these books are not available anywhere in the market.

“Teachers say we have to buy the books only from the school and we have been told to pay Rs 2,500 for the books of Class 5, which are exclusively available in the private school affiliated to CBSE,” said Krishan Lal, a parent. “Even they have changed the MRP (minimum retail price) of the books,” he added.

Moreover, most of the schools are taking the entire amount in hard cash and are not ready to accept the money via cashless transactions or cheques. Infact, private schools have not complied with the direction by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to put up their fee structure and other expense details related to their finances on their school website. Many schools do not even have any official website, making parents wonder how these schools were given the NOC by the state education department to get affiliation.

Yamunanagar district education officer (DEO) Anand Chaudhary said, “The schools cannot conduct commercial activities in their premises and we take action if we get any complaint.”

He said norms related to the books and admission fee are set by the CBSE and the schools should follow the guidelines.

Sources in Haryana education department said the situation prevails due to lack of proper guidelines and routine visits by the officials concerned. “The only way to check this corruption is that the government should take strict steps to make online or cashless transactions mandatory for all private schools,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

Joseph Emmanuel, CBSE’s joint secretary and regional officer, a was not available for comments despite HT’s repeated attempts.