Neha Saini
Amritsar, March 31
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s announcement on barring private schools from fee hike from current session and also warning them against compelling parents to buy books, uniform or stationery items from select shops might just get rousing response from parents. But this is not going to help parents, at least in this academic session.
Reason: With most private schools in city already began admissions mid-March for nursery and other classes, a majority of parents have already paid the hiked fee and already bought books and uniforms.
Illogical and one-sided decision: Pvt schools
- The private school managements and associations have come together to call the move illogical, instead demanding that the state government must contribute to the private schools in terms of aid and grants at par with government schools, if they have to regulate the fee. “It’s an illogical decision that has been made to please the masses.
- The government should not treat all private schools on equal footing. Under RASA (Recognised And Affiliated Schools Association), we have 250-300 private schools in district that charge fee between Rs500-1500. Under PSEB guidelines, we have to submit the details of our accounts to a regulatory authority and also bear re-affiliation fee.
- Also, according to the Punjab Regulation of Fee of Un-Aided Educational Institutions Act, 2016, private schools are allowed to hike fee up to 8% annually. So, why are we being demonised?” asked Kamaljot Singh, president, RASA, Amritsar.
“On an average, every private school in city has hiked the fee, including annual charges for the current academic session. Some have even begun classes, so the announcement seems a bit late. Also, previous fee regulatory laws that were brought in place had failed check the fee hike by private schools. So, the new policy needs to be executed effectively without any loopholes so as make a difference,” said Rajbir Singh, who works in a textile mill as a master and father of two. He shared that he has recently paid Rs 16,000/per child for admission in a private school for his two kids, one in Class 1 and other in Class 4.
Sanjeev Behal, a businessman, shared: “Besides the announcements, the responsibility to keep a check on the accounts of private schools falls on the state government so that every penny they charge is accounted for. I have paid Rs 1.03 lakh as school fee for two kids in 2020 and in 2021, I paid Rs 1.38 lakh. Unless, school managements are asked to submit their balance sheets to a government regulatory authority, there is zero transparency exercised by the schools in charging fee.”
As per the latest data from the Education Department, Punjab has 28,568 schools, of which nearly 19,200 are state-run and the remaining are in private (affiliated), unaided, associated and other categories. In district, alone there are more than 500 private schools.
Even on the issue of buying books and uniforms from a particular shop, the problem lies in implementation of regulatory checks on schools and their affiliates by government agencies. “According to CBSE guidelines, only NCERT books are to be prescribed in syllabus. But most schools prescribe their own books from different publications citing that government cannot dictate terms on how they should teach. One of the major private schools in city publishes books on their own. So, parents are left confused and harassed only to tow the line later,” shared Bhawna Gupta, a housewife and mother of eight-year-old.
Meanwhile, a delegation of private school heads from city also met Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh today to put their case after the announcement.
Existing rules on fee hike
The Punjab Regulation of Fee of Un-Aided Educational Institutions Act, 2016, states that un-aided, private schools can raise fee up to 8% annually and avoid profiteering, without clearly stating what accounts to profiteering by schools. Also, it states that a regulatory body will be set up to check any unjustified fee hike or violation of regulations of the Act.
Govt schools no replacement
Despite government schools introducing kindergarten classes from last four years, they have failed to replace the private schools as the first choice of parents seeking early learning for their wards. The nursery enrolments in government schools had seen a rise of 15% last year due to financial constraints of parents. But this year, the enrolment has dropped by almost 6-7%.
Reining in private schools: Announcement delayed, won't help this year
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