Adopt Central school fees law, say parents

MUMBAI: A few days after they protested to demand a uniform fee regulation law across the country, parent bodies are now planning to convince their respective states to adopt the proposed national law to regulate school fees.

In July, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) submitted draft regulations to the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry. The proposed regulations have empowered District Fee Regulation Committees (DFRCS) to approve and strike down fee-hike proposals of schools on a case-to-case basis.

Presently, private schools can hike their fees without prior approval from any authority.

Parents’ organisations, who had demanded the Central government to come up with a national fee-regulation law, which is called the Central Fee Regulation Act, are now going to convince their respective state governments to give a nod to the NCPCR regulations.

“Most states like Maharashtra currently have no mechanism to address issues of fee hikes. The only hope for parents lies in these proposed regulations. In the days to come, we will approach the chief ministers and other officials from all the states convincing them to support the proposed regulation” said Anubha Sahai, president of the India Wide Parents Association (IWPA).

Parent bodies from over 20 states had recently announced that they would boycott voting in the Lok Sabha polls if a legislation to control fees was not brought in.

“We have given a set of suggestions and objections to the ministry and are hoping that they are taken into consideration. All we want is for the states to show some interest in the issue that almost every parent is facing today,” added Sahai.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government is yet to break its silence over the delay in bringing about a set of amendments in Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fees) Act, 2011.

Currently, individual parents cannot approach the DFRC with fee-related complaints.