Unaided schools may hike fees by 15%

THE ISSUE

MUMBAI: Amidst the confusion over the recent interim order of the Bombay high court on school fee hikes, the Unaided Schools Forum has now advised its 225 member schools to raise their fees by 15% for the upcoming academic year. Upset with this, parents’ associations are planning to move the court.

On December 22, a division bench of Justice Anoop Mohta and Justice Amjad Sayed allowed private unaided educational institutions to increase their fees by 15% for the 2016-17 academic year, pending the court’s final order. The judges were hearing petitions filed by schools, including Pune’s Vibgyor High School, that had challenged the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) The Unaided Schools Association has advised its 225 member schools to raise their fees by 15% for the upcoming academic year This move follows a Bombay high court order which allows private unaided educational institutions to raise their fees by 15% Act, 2011.

Following the order, there was confusion among schools and parents. The confusion stemmed from the fact that the MEIRF Act states schools can hike fees only once in two years, while the HC interim order did not set down any such condition.

Citing the order, the Unaided Schools Forum has recently The HC was hearing a petition by a few unaided schools, which challenged the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act of 2011 The act mandates that schools can only hike fees once in two years. taken the stance that schools can go ahead with 15% fee hikes for the next academic year, even if they hiked their fees in the previous year. “The High Court order is not retrospective in nature, which means schools are free to increase fees once again this year,” said SC Kedia, general secretary of the Forum. “Fee hikes are the only revenue source for schools to meet inflation, revise teachers’ salaries and maintenance of infrastructure.”

However, parents have criticized the order and have planned to challenge it in court. “This order goes against the provisions of the MEIRF Act,” said Jayant Jain, president of the NGO, Forum for Fairness in Education. “Also, since the court has not given any stay on the act, schools cannot violate its provisions.”

Jain added that the government has also not met all the provisions of the act, such as prescribing additional fees charged by schools including computer fees, and library fees. “Schools are charging exorbitant amounts as additional fees. In some schools, admission fees are as high as Rs3 lakh and nursery students also are asked to pay laboratory fees,” said Jain. “The government has to set an upper limit to these amounts.”