Govt asks 575 schools to refund excess fees

■ Pvt schools told to disburse pending salaries, return fees within 7 days ◗ The government has also directed the schools to refund the excess fees — charged between June 2016 to January 2018 — with 9 per cent interest

The Delhi government has directed 575 private schools in the city to refund the excess fees charged by them citing implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. The government has also directed the schools to refund the excess fees — charged between June 2016 to January 2018 — with 9 per cent interest.

The directive by the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation comes following the report of a committee constituted by the Delhi high court for examining the records of private schools in respect of implementation of the 6th Central Pay Commission recommendations. The panel has audited 1,169 schools in the city so far.

“The committee has identified 575 schools in its report to refund excess fees charged by these schools with 9 per cent interest. The schools are directed to refund the fees within 7 days and ensure disbursal of pending payment of salaries if any,” an order by the Directorate of Education

( DoE) said.

“Non- compliance with the order shall be viewed seriously and action shall be taken against errant schools under the provisions of the Delhi School Education Act, 1973,” it added.

In a similar incident a few days ago, the government directed two schools to rollback fee hike and derecognised a private school in the city for not providing free uniform and books to students admitted under the EWS category.

“For the first time in the country, schools are being disciplined. They are not being allowed to hike fees arbitrarily. Many schools are being made to return hiked fees. Because there is an honest government in Delhi,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted earlier.

The AAP government’s “rendering education as a service” initiative has been getting lots of attention on social media just like the introduction of ‘ spoken English’ course. The course which is supposed to begin next month has been organised in collaboration with the British Council, IndiaMcMillan Education, Academy for Computers Training ( Gujarat) and Trinity College London.