Pvt schools told to not collect hiked fee

SCHOOLS WANTED TO INCREASE THEIR FEES IN ORDER TO IMPLEMENT THE 7TH CENTRAL PAY COMMISSION

NEWDELHI: The Delhi government has asked around 1,700 private schools to not collect increased fee on account of implementing the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) till further order.

The move comes after a recent high court order stayed a government directive allowing fee hike of up to 15% so that schools can pay the increased salaries to its staff based on the 7th CPC.

“…all the private unaided recognised schools of Delhi shall not collect increased fee, if any, from the parents/guardians/students on account of implementation of 7th CPC till further orders are passed by the court,” an order issued by the Directorate of Education (DOE) on Tuesday said.

A DOE official said schools need to wait till further order from the court. “The next hearing in the matter is on February 1 and depending on what the court decides, we will issue further orders but till then schools cannot charge an increased fee,” the official said.

Recently, the government said it will be conducting audits of the financial accounts of all private schools to stop unjustified fee hike after it received many complaints regarding hike from parents. The government will get financial statements of the school for the last three years audited by a charted accountant. The report of the CA will then be approved by DOE officials.

Last year, the government had conducted audit of around 150 private schools which were build on Delhi Development Authority (DDA) land. The schools build on DDA land need prior permission of the government to hike their fees.

The government had found in the audit of these schools that many institutions siphoned off money collected through fees to their parent society.

“We saw this trend in the DDA schools and have now decided to get the financial accounts of last three years of all schools audited through charted accountants,” said Atishi Marlena, advisor to education minister Manish Sisodia.

Marlena said the Delhi School Education Act and Rules (DSEAR) 1973 allows for conducting audit of private schools if the director (DOE) is not satisfied with the fees estimate given by the school.