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Pvt schools plan fee hike to make up for free quota
December 24, 2010 4:31:13 AM

Staff Reporter | New Delhi

Parents waiting to admit their toddlers into nursery school should start preparing to shell out more money on their little ones, as private schools across the Capital are planning to hike the fees in this session.

The Action Committee of unaided Recognised Private Schools (ACURPS) on Thursday claimed that this is required in order to adjust the 25 per cent EWS (economically weaker sections) children quota. School authorities, voicing their concerns said they require extra funding from the Government because they will be providing free education to EWS children.

SK Bhattacharya, president of ACURPS, said, “Fees of public schools is likely to increase but we cannot give the exact ratio by which it will increase.”

ACURPS on Thursday said, “The Government has said it will reimburse the per capita expense of every child as per the Government and MCD schools. But there are many other expenses like infrastructure cost, transport cost, etc.” RC Jain, president of the Delhi State Management Schools Association, said, “The fees is likely to increase as the Government has promised to pay only the recurring expenses, which will include only the teacher’s salary, electricity and water bills of the school but there are many other expenses that the schools bear, which must be taken into account by the Government”.

Bhattacharya added, “The 25 per cent reservation is not constitutional. We are against it. The matter is in the Supreme Court. We are looking forward to the court’s hearing on January 7”. Opposing the EWS reservation, Bhattacharya further added that before implementing the EWS reservation, the Government should check other important things, like compulsory elementary education proposal for kids aged between six to 14 have been properly implemented.

Bhattacharya said, “There is no concept of pre-primary free education in Government schools uptil now. It should first be implemented in Government schools and then in the private schools. The autonomy of private schools has been curtailed”.

The ACURPS said the schools feel greatly handicapped by the various notifications, orders and circulars by multiple Governmental agencies. Bhattacharya said, “Even though the TMA Pai judgment of the Supreme Court grants full autonomy and freedom to schools in regards to admissions, fee fixation and day-to-day administrations, our autonomy has been totally curtailed”. DK Bedi, principal of Apeejay School in Pitampura said, “There is a possibility of fee hike. The ratio of fees hike would vary from one school to the other. This fees hike will be decided by the management committee of various schools”.

Meanwhile, parents find themselves in the cross fire between schools and the DOE, as school authorities are protesting against the reservation of 25% seats for EWS category, saying that unless the Government provides extra funding, it will not be feasible for the schools to provide EWS children free education. Shilpi Saha, a mother said, “It is a stressful time for us. Earlier, is we were facing troubles trying to understand the categories and schedules of various schools. Fee hike will worsen our situation further. Our whole planning will go hay wire, if there is a fee hike by schools”.

Sumit Vohra, founder of admissionsnursery.com, a forum for parents’ queries said, “Last week, the Delhi Government had said the Government will scrutinise the accounts of the school and then they will pay the schools the required amount accordingly. Why should we parents bear the brunt of fee hike”?

TIMES OF INDIA DATED 24 DEC 2010

NO MONEY FOR FREE EDUCATION’

EWS quota may lead to fee hike: Schools

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

New Delhi: Private unaided schools do not seem too upbeat about implementation of the new Right To Education. The School Action Committee (SAC) – an umbrella body of four school associations in the city – made it clear on Thursday that the burden of accommodating 25% EWS students for free was “too much” for private schools. 
    They said the schools would now be forced to increase fee for other students. SAC is also bringing together school associations from different states to debate on the issue of autonomy in a convention on Friday. 
    “Providing free education should not be the responsibility of the private sector. As we do not want to stall the admission process, we have accepted the EWS reservation. But we protest. There is a possibility of fee hike though we cannot say how much. There are 1,950 recognized private unaided schools in the city and it’s the prerogative of the management committee at each school to decide the quantum of hike,” said S K Bhattacharya, president, SAC on Thursday. He added they had already challenged the provisions of RTE in the Supreme Court for which a hearing is likely to come up on January 7. 
    SAC has the National Progressive Schools’ Conference, Federation of Schools, Forum of Public Schools and Delhi State Public School Management as its constituents. According to schools, they are likely to spend anything between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,500 for every child admitted under the EWS quota in nursery though the government may reimburse up to Rs 1,200. But the govt funds will only be given for 10% EWS students. For the rest, schools will have to spend from their own coffers. 
    Bhattacharya added, “Government should give 100% reimbursement for the fee directly to the parents, may be in the form of vouchers. Though no official guidelines have been issued yet on how the EWS fee will be reimbursed, government says it will pay us the amount equal to what it spends on each child in its own schools.” 
    SAC also contended that RTE may lead to shutting down of unrecognized schools, making education inaccessible in many neighbourhoods. “The government should first provide infrastructure, appoint teachers and make schools ready for RTE. If the unrecognized schools are not recognized within three years, they will have to be shut down under RTE,” said R C Jain, chairperson of a body representing unrecognized schools in the city