School managements want free rein in fee structure

Updated on: Friday, June 03, 2011

Highly qualified principals cannot be treated as criminals, said representatives of schools who met the state government’s fee regulation committee and education minister Rajendra Darda on Wednesday. On the second day of the public hearing on the draft of Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act 2011, school managements asked the state government to do away with it.

While parents are eagerly awaiting the act to come into force, the school managements asked for a free hand in deciding their fee structures. The legislative committee, which has been set up to discuss the draft with the stakeholders, met representatives from the school managements at Y B Chavan Auditorium. The Unaided Schools’ Forum said that they would challenge the act in the apex court if it were enacted in its current format.

The managements said that a ceiling of 15% surplus is unacceptable and that the government should allow at least 20-25% surplus in the fee hikes. “The government should not interfere in cases where fee hikes are legitimate and no one is opposed to them. Just because 10% of schools indulge in unfair practices doesn’t mean that the remaining 90% schools should suffer a blanket act on fee hikes,” said S C Kedia, the honorary secretary of the forum.

“Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh governments tried to bring an act on similar lines, but they have been challenged in court. The matter is still pending. We, too, can move court if the government enforces such restrictions on schools. According to the Supreme Court’s T M Pai judgment, fees of private and unaided institutions cannot be regulated by the government,” Kedia said. He added that a government resolution passed in May 2003 accepts the SC’s verdict. Unaided schools in the state can determine their own fee structure and if anybody has an objection, he/ she can approach the deputy director of school education, Kedia said.

The forum also opposed criminal liabilities against the head of the institutions. “If highly qualified principals are penalised with imprisonment, then nobody would like to take up the post in future. The government can book them under civil liabilities but imprisonment is not justified,” said one of the school representatives. Another representative said that the government is yet to recognise pre-schools in the state, and therefore, it cannot regulate fee hikes in preschools. “The government should start recognising preschools and bring in laws to regulate them,” added the representative.

An official from the school education department said that the committee would soon table its report on the public hearings. However, none of the government officials or committee members was available for comment.

School managements want free rein in fee structure

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