New fee draft upsets PTAs, schools

Updated on: Friday, February 18, 2011

A day after the state education department uploaded the draft of its proposed Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act, 2011, reactions to the development are pouring in. Every point mentioned in the bill is being questioned by schools as well as parents; both parties are unconvinced about various clauses.

Schools have been asked to inform their parent-teacher association (PTA) about any fee hike at least 10 months in advance. “It is a good thing that parents will have a say in fee hikes at schools, but there is no need for so many rules. Schools will wait for parents’ confirmation, but keeping to such a specific timeframe will be very chaotic,” said the principal of a south Mumbai school. Some other principals told TOI that the PTA is being given a lot of power, which could be misused.

Parents, on their part, are concerned about the non-existence of an upper limit of chargeable fees. “Even the deposit amount for library and computer fees as well as caution money has no upper limit. Schools would charge us any amount they feel like,” said Rajnish Patel, a father of two. Patel, an active member of his PTA, said while the importance given to the PTA is good, most of the important posts in the association would be given to school authorities. “The post of chairman, secretary and joint secretary of the PTA will be filled by the school management. Our voices and opinions must not get suppressed,” he said.

Jayant Jain, president of Forum for Fairness in Education, said, “Chapter II, Section 3 (4) of the draft is dangerous as it mentions that no parent has the authority to directly complain to the district level forum. They will have to go through either the school management or the PTA. What if the PTA is controlled by the school management? Where will parents go share their concerns?”

One of the major problems that parents as well as schools have with the draft is the vagueness of several terms used in the bill. “One of the determinants of fees is a school’s status. What does the term ‘status’ mean,” asked Jain.

The draft also maintains that schools can revise their fees only once in three years and after the approval of the revision committee. “Inflation is affecting our lives every few months. In such times, how does the government expect us not to hike fees,” asked a principal.

The school education department is not shaken by the complaints. Instead, they are waiting for suggestions. “Once we know what people exactly want, we’ll try and make the necessary changes in the bill and send it to the next assembly session,” said a senior education official.

New fee draft upsets PTAs, schools

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