Mt Carmel branch loses recognition over fee hike

ORDER Branch constructed on state land, govt approval must before fee increase, says DOE

NEWDELHI: The Delhi government on Thursday de-recognised a private school in Dwarka for “irrationally” and “unwarrantedly” increasing student fees for the academic session 2016-17.

The government claimed that Mount Carmel School in Dwarka Sector 22 was given land under the Delhi Development Authority on the condition that the fee structure not be increased without its permission.

The de-recognition will come into effect once the current academic year, 2018-’19, is over.

According to the school’s website, the school shifted to its present location in 2002, and the junior wing started in 2004.

The Directorate of Education (DOE) order to the school read, “There are around 325 private unaided recognised schools in Delhi who are running on the land allotted by the DDA and other government land owning agencies and one of the condition in the land allotment letter is that the school shall not increase the tuition fee without a prior approval from the DOE… However, the school did the same for the academic session 2016-17.”

According to officials at the DOE, the school was issued multiple show cause notices between 2016 and 2018. Each time, the school continue to cite the fact that it was a “minority institution”, a reply that the government did not find satisfactory.

“The school is situated on government land and had accepted the terms and conditions at the time of allotment then they have to take prior information from the DOE for raising any tuition fee... Mount Caramel School is one of such schools. The DOE issued multiple show cause notices to the school but did not get satisfactory reply,” a DOE official said.

The directorate in its order also said, “The parents of students studying in minority schools are equally affected like parents of non-minority schools with any such arbitrary increase of fee despite a restriction to that by the DOE in terms of land lease deed.”

The DOE said that “in the large interest of parents” they have left with no other option but to withdraw the recognition of the school. “Keeping interest of students studying in the school and appearing in the board examination the recognition granted to the Mount Carmel School in Dwarka is hereby withdrawn with effect from April 1, 2019 for non-compliance of the Doe’s order,” the directorate said.

Michael William, director of Mount Carmel Schools, said that he was yet to receive any communication from the government. “We have been giving detailed answers to the queries sent by the government in the last two years. We do not know about the development as of now and that’s why we can’t comment on this,” he said.

The group has three schools in Delhi — two in Dwarka and one in Anand Niketan.

Meanwhile, Delhi state public schools management association’s president RC Jain said that the private schools would resist the move. “We are not going to accept this diktat. We will take to the streets if the government will not take the decision back,” Jain said.