Centre may cap school fee hikes at 10% per year

Top panel proposal to cover private, unaided schools

NEWDELHI: Bringing relief to parents beset by frequent and arbitrary increases in school fees, a government commission is likely to suggest a 10% yearly cap on the fee hike permissible by private, unaided schools, with provisions for penalties in case of violations, two officials familiar with the development said.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) , a statutory body, is in the process of making a recommendation to that effect to the human resource development (HRD) ministry, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

Although fixing school fees is the domain of state governments, in the absence of a standard fee policy for unaided schools, there has been a growing clamour for central regulations. An HRD ministry official said they would “examine the proposal once we get it”.

India has 350,000 private, unaided schools — 24% of all schools — where 75 million children, or 38% of all students, study. Such schools do not receive any grant from the government and have to generate their own revenue for sustenance. Many cities across India have of late seen parents protest arbitrary fee hikes by such schools. In Delhi and Mumbai, for instance, the fee hike in private, unaided schools in last year varied between 10 % and 40 %.

Inundated with complaints from parents, NCPCR, the country’s apex child rights body, has drafted regulations to put in place a uniform fee framework for unaided private schools. It will propose setting up a district fee regulatory authority in states to monitor school fee increases. The draft regulations will also suggest a formula for determining fees, based on a school’s location, costs incurred, revenue earned, student strength, and other parameters.

“We will send the draft regulation to HRD ministry shortly for action,” said a senior NCPCR official. Draft regulations say if a school violates the norms provided in the uniform fee framework, it will be fined 1% of the revenue it generates in the first instance, which will increase to 2% and 5% for a second and third violation.

For any subsequent violation, NCPCR has proposed that the school be put in a “no admission category” and barred from admitting new students. “Instead of closing the school, we have proposed that no fresh admission should be allowed in the school. This will allow the existing students to complete their education,” said a second NCPCR official involved in drafting the regulations.