BENGALURU: With no government regulation on fees this year, several private schools in Bengaluru have increased fees by as much as 30-40%. Complaints are pouring in from parents about indiscriminate fee hike this year, with many forced to shell out nearly Rs 50,000 more this year.
On January 5, the Karnataka HC ruled that government cannot regulate fees in private schools. It held several provisions in the Karnataka Education Act, 1983, under which government could prescribe fees and child safety norms, unconstitutional.
Even though school associations had advised private schools to stick to 10-15% hike of the fees, several city schools have not followed it. The fee hike is seen across all categories of schools.
“I used to pay Rs 1.6 lakh a year until last year. This time, it has come up to Rs 2.1 lakh. Our salaries do not go up every year to match the hike,” said the parent of a student from a prominent chain of CBSE schools.
My child is getting into class 7. Last year, the tuition fee was Rs 1.18 lakh. This year, it is Rs 1.6 lakh. There are additional fees under various subheads like book fees, exam fees and annual fees. This is beyond us,” lamented a parent of a student from a Telangana-based school known for JEE coaching.
It is not the high fee charging schools where the increase is. “I used to pay Rs 60,000 in three installments. Now, it is Rs 98,000. This is not what we signed up for.
We were hoping for a 10% hike annually which could have been managed with our family budget,” said a parent from a school in Kadugodi. Parents’ associations said they have been flooded with calls on high fees. “Schools are misinterpreting recent HC orders, which give permission to the schools to fix their fee structure and exploit parents.
The order clearly mentioned that the permission to fix the fee structure is based on the following conditions: No profiteering, no capitation fee, and a reasonable fee structure…,” said Sijo Sebastian, secretary, Voice of Parents Association.
The department of school education admitted it has no powers to regulate school fees. “We are filing a special leave petition in the Supreme Court. We’ll take up this legal fight seriously,” said Vishal R, commissioner, department of school education.
The department of school education admitted that it has no powers to regulate the school fees. “We are filing a special leave petition in the Supreme Court. The only option for us is a legal fight which we are taking up seriously,” said Vishal R, commissioner, department of school education.
“All the fundamental clauses have been struck down. Even if we receive complaints, there is little legal space under which we can act decisively,” he said.
The Association of Managements of primary and secondary schools of Karnataka said such hikes are unacceptable. “Just because government has no control does not mean schools can function at their whims and fancies. As schools, we are ready to accept a 10-15% cap on the annual fee hike. But, the government had gone far beyond this and had tried to control all components which we were forced to challenge in the court,” said D Shashi Kumar, secretary.
“The government can define the increase and cap the over commercialization and charging of exorbitant fees. But, they don’t sit with us and discuss,” he said.
“There is no appropriate authority for parents to file their grievances. Private schools do have the right to fix their own fee, agreed, but government has to regulate, determine and approve the same to check profiteering and commercialization. We demand a suitable legislation to regulate the private schools,” said Mohammed Shakeel, president of VoP.
