Annual fee hike for pvt schools likely to get capped at 10%
WELCOME MOVE NCPCR’s draft uniform fee framework also calls for penalising violators a percentage of revenue
In a move that will bring relief to parents beset by frequent and arbitrary increases in school fees, a government commission is likely to suggest a 10% yearly cap on permissible fee hike for 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.
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. Many cities across India, including Delhi, Ghaziabad and Faridabad, have of late seen parents protest arbitrary fee hikes by such schools. In Delhi and Mumbai, for instance, the average fee hike in private unaided schools was 10% to 40% last year.
Inundated with complaints from parents, the NCPCR, the
NEW DELHI:
country’s apex child right’s 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 a formula for determining fees, based on a school’s location, costs incurred, revenue earned, student strength, and so on.
“We will send the draft regulation to HRD ministry shortly for action,” said a senior NCPCR official.
According to the draft regulations, if a school violates the norms provided in the uniform fee framework, it will be fined 1% of the total revenue that it generates in the first instance, which will increase to 2 % and 5% for a second and third violation respectively.
For any subsequent violation, NCPCR has proposed that the school be put in a“no admission category” and barred from taking in new students.
“Instead of closing the school, which jeopardises the schooling of existing students, we have proposed that no fresh admission be allowed in the school.