Private schools charging exorbitant fees is a big problem for the parents. Tuition fees, charge for extra curricular activities, lab fees, transportation cost and many other additional charges during the term add up much burden on parents who wants to give good education to their children. The problem of fees hike is rampant in urban areas and leading metropolitan cities, where in popular imagination learning and study is better. It has been also alleged that the schools despite charging high fees does not give quality education. Fees hike is a major concern for the parents of the country. Private schools increasing fees as per their choice has been a complaint of many middle class parents. They consider it as an extortion racket. Parents alleged that many schools are running extortion racket using school and education as a tool. And parents are helpless as they cannot do anything about it. They surrender to demands to the schools by compromising their dreams for the dreams of their children. Once the child get into a school it’s difficult for the parents to take him/her out and admit him/her into another school. Instability affects the growth and performance of child. A child cannot quickly become accustom to a new environment. His brain is too immature to do that. Child is too small to have understanding of the dirty business which is going on in the name of school and education. Private schools have taken full advantage of helplessness of parents and are extracting huge amount of money from them. Private schools adopt all sorts of cheap tricks in order to lure children to their school with advertisement of affordable fees but once parents enroll their child into the school, the school mafia starts showing their imperialist nature and increase fees steeply. Private schools do to parents and children what Britishers did to Indians.
Regulation of fee hike has been demand of parents through out the country and it looks like finally Modi government is paying heed to their demands and giving them something to cheer about.In order to provide relief to parents from fee hikes, the Central government is going to adopt CM Yogi Adityanath’s law to regulate fee hike in the private schools. The Uttar Pradesh government in April this year approved the ‘ordinance for self-financed independent schools (regulation of fees) bill 2018‘, to put a cap on those schools who are charging very high fee. Under this law private schools are not allowed to increase fees beyond 8 percent. This law is applicable to all the private schools including the minority ones, schools affiliated to CBSE, CISCE and Uttar Pradesh board.
The Central government in its legislation wants to add some extra features like restriction on “charging admission every year and changing school uniforms annually”. Centre is also toying with the provision to de-recognize the schools for three violation. Prohibitive fines for flouting rules is also likely be part of the new law. Academic year 2015-16 has been taken as the base year for the implementation of the new regulations. All the schools who charge more than Rs.20,000 per year would come under these regulations.
Centre is discussing the matter with all the major stakeholders and trying to bring consensus. One official said, “The success of the fee cap in private schools of UP has been closely studied by the central government with an aim to extend it to other states. We have realized that whenever you take all stakeholders into confidence and engage with them, listen and address their concerns, consensus is reached. This is the reason for the success in UP. Some of the good practices of states should be encouraged so that others can also benefit from these.”
Last year, Gujarat Assembly had also passed a fee regulation act. Maharashtra Government also has a similar law. Once this national level fee regulation act comes in then it will put at an end to open looting carried out by schools.