SCHOOLS unjustified HUGE FEES HIKE EVERY YEARS

GOVERNMENT IGNORENCE ON INDIAS BIGGEST SENSITIVE AND CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE ON FEES HIKES
As schools begin admissions for the coming academic year, EXORBITANT FEE and RAMPANT HIKES in it are a major cause for concern among parents, finds a new online poll.

As many as 64% parents said that they have witnessed more than a 10% hike in school fees, frequently. And even though it’s illegal, significant amounts are charged under different heads other than the tuition fee.

The poll recorded the response of over 13,000 parents online. It was carried out by Local Circles, a citizen engagement platform and its results were released on Wednesday evening.

“The issue of school fees is a highly emotive one as it deals with the future of not only children but also that of the country,” read the statement released by Local Circles. “The normal rules of economy do not apply on school fees as consumers/parents have a very little flexibility to change or shift, once they have chosen a particular school,” it added.

Frustrated by the profiteering by schools, 81% of the parents demanded establishing a regulatory body for private school fee at the national level, although states like Maharashtra already have a school fee regulation act in place.

“The fee regulation act is not being implemented properly even though it’s been more than a year since it’s enforcement. State government authorities are hand-in-glove with school managements,” said Jayant Jain, president, Forum for Fairness in Education, a non government organisation fighting against arbitrary fee hikes for the last several years.

Adding that schools are increasing from 20% to 50% across India, Jain said, “Schools are given land on a concessional basis, even electricity and water are at a lower rate but even then there are unjustified fee hikes.”

So on what basis should schools charge fees?

Around 41 % voted that the fee hikes should be linked to inflation which is currently in the range of 6-7 % per annum. Another 20 % parents said that the hike should be capped at 10% in a year and 15 % said it should be linked to hike in salary by the pay commission.

Despite profiteering, most schools are set up as charitable trusts or societies. Around 73% parents voted that schools with an objective of reaping profits should be required to set up as private companies instead. “Many schools today are running like businesses so they should be recognised as the same and not be allowed to enjoy the benefits of a charity institution,” said Arundhati Roy, president, Parent Teachers Association (PTA) United Forum.

Taking a note of the growing discontent among parents, the CBSE is mulling dividing the fee into basic and premium. Basics will cover necessities, while premium will include optional features such as horse riding, swimming and others. Close to 77% parents said that they prefer this system.

In an earlier poll, 81% parents had demanded that schools be asked to declare yearly financials on the school’s website along with the fee structure. This suggestion was incorporated by the CBSE board.

Some citizen inputs on what can be done by CBSE and MHRD to make school fee increase more reasonable and transparent :

1. The regulator should be responsible for preventing any undue fee hike by private schools

2. A part of their job should be to assess if the fees charged by a school is set on the basis of the infrastructure and services being provided

3. MHRD should also make suitable legislation to give authority to the regulator to close the schools which do not adhere to the guidelines issued by the regulator

4. A special anti-graft squad should be put together for schools

One of the school explanations over fee hike
Agenda  4:  
To  present  the  proposal  for  the  fee  increase  for  the academic  year  2017-18  and  2018-19 The  Principal  shared  with  the  members  the  new  fee  regulation  act according  to  which  the  parents  have  to  be  intimated  about  the  fee increase  six  months  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  new  academic  year.  It also  stipulated  an  increase  once  in  two  years  but  it  does  not  put  a  ceiling on  the  amount  of  percentage  of  increase.  The  amount  of  increase  would directly  depend  on  the  expenses  of  the  school.  It  was  stated  it  was  very difficult  to  estimate  the  salaries  for  a  period  of  two  years  as  this depended  on  Government  DA  rates  and  inflation  rate  in  the  country. Secondly  the  fee  increase  looks  huge  when  it  is  done  as  the  parents  tend to  forget  that  it  is  being  in  done  once  in  two  and  it  also  suddenly increases  the  burden  on  parent’s  budget.  Hence  with  the  permission  of PTA  the  fee  increase  is  done  on  a  yearly  basis  taking  into  consideration the  expenses  of  the  next  year  only. The  Principal  informed  the  members  that  from  the  last  year’s  fee increase  about  75%  of  the  fee  increase  was  allocated  to  teacher’s  and other  staff  members  salary  and  hardly  any  money  was  left  with  school for  any  other  development  work.   The  details  of  the  fee  increase  for  the  year  2017-18  was  provided  to  the PTA  members  in  the  prescribed  format  III  [Rule  9(1)].    The  proposed  fee  increase  was  Rs.  320/-  for  the  year  2017-18  and  Rs. 350/-  for  the  year  2018-19.   It  was  clarified  that  the  fee  for  the  year  2018-19  was  subject  to changes  as  it  would  depend  on  decision  of  the  Government  to implement  the  7th  Pay  commission.  If  the  same  becomes  applicable  in 2017-18  then  the  new  fee  proposal  will  be  made  to  the  new  PTA  next year  after  incorporating  the  increase  in  the  salary  as  per  the  7th  Pay Commission  rules.     The  Principal  also  displayed  and  discussed  the  deficit  in  the  bus expenses.  She  elaborated  that  over  the  years  a  lot  of  expenses  were incurred  in  maintaining  the  buses  as  per  Government  regulations,  which includes  emergency  exit  gates,  the  painting  of  school  bus  as  per Government  code,  medical  insurance  of  bus  staff  etc.  So  far  the  Trust had  been  absorbing  the  huge  deficit  but  it  is  no  longer  manageable.  In view  of  this  she  announced  a  hike  of  Rs.120  in  the  bus  fee.  She  further informed  that  the  installation  of  cameras  in  the  buses  have  been  put  on hold  as  there  is  a  technical  snag  in  the  software  system.  The management  is  looking  for  reasonable  solutions  to  counter  the  same. Therefore,  the  new  bus  fee  structure  does  not  include  the  camera charges.  The  charges  for  the  same  will  be  informed  before  the installation  is  done. The  Principal  informed  the  members  that  ICSE  Council  has  hiked  the charges  under  various  heads  like  Annual  Registration,  Migration Certificate,  Re-evaluation  charges,  Statement  of  exam  result  etc.  While the  school  has  incurred  the  expense  towards  stationery,  it  has  yet  to  foot other  expenses  like  courier  (of  answer  scripts),  class  photographs, migration  certificates,  Inspectors  charges,  eligibility  certificates  etc. She  reiterated  that  all  the  expenses  will  be  shared  by  the  students  who will  take  the  board  exam  in  March  2017.  This  agenda  was  discussed  in detail  in  the  previous  PTA  meeting.  Std  X  students  are  required  to  pay ICSE Registration and Examination charges of approx Rs 4250/-(the exact amount would be conveyed later) as yearly charges. The Principal informed the members that if they require any clarification they are free to meet her. This proposal would be required to be approved in the next meeting of the PTA as per rules. more