Following the State government’s intention to introduce legislation to manage school fees, parents are requesting that the new law be free of ambiguity and loopholes.
The parents are requesting that the government include adequate terminology to eliminate misunderstanding about what constitutes a “fee.”
Because the ambiguity around the terms “fee,” “tuition charge,” “total cost,” “fee hike,” and “private School” has left parents in the dark for the past decade.
In a letter to the State Commissioner and Director of School Education, Hyderabad Schools Parents Association (HSPA) joint secretary Venkat Sainath highlighted concerns, listing many issues and emphasising the importance of including them in the proposed legislation.
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The new law should define the term “fee,” which is the component sought to be regulated. Previous attempts to restrict fees without outlining what all components are included left parents in the dark. During the Covid epidemic, the government issued GO 75 of 2020, instructing schools to collect just “tuition fee.” However, because there is no definition of what constitutes a tuition fee, schools add transportation and food charges as part of it while not providing the same to their students. The ideal way to minimise problems and close loopholes are to define school fee in terms of the amount paid by parents/students to school, for whatever reason.
The new law should define the term “fee,” which is the component sought to be regulated. Previous attempts to restrict fees without outlining what all components are included left parents in the dark. During the Covid epidemic, the government issued GO 75 of 2020, instructing schools to collect just “tuition fee.” However, because there is no definition of what constitutes a tuition fee, schools add transportation and food charges as part of it while not providing the same to their students. The ideal way to minimise problems and close loopholes are to define school fee in terms of the amount paid by parents/students to school, for whatever reason.
As a result, the definition includes tuition, activity fees, term fees, extra-curricular fees, transportation fees, and mess fees. Otherwise, every alternative path leads to interminable disputes and detours. So, according to the HSPA, was the opinion of Justice Santosh Duggal, who studied the subject under a mandate from the Delhi High Court in 1998. Similarly, there is a need to define “private schools” that are to be governed, regardless of the boards of education with which the schools are affiliated. Aside from that, it emphasized ‘regulating the cost imposed’ rather than merely the ‘fee hike.’ Because numerous schools, particularly the older and more established ones, have been attempting to pitch the government on the concept that restricting the fee spike percentage (about 10% per year) alone, without regulating the basic cost, is the best approach to regulate school fees. It remembered that all of the high courts and the Supreme Court, for their part, have suggested fee regulation, not just charge hikes, to prevent profiteering. Also, the base year for calculating the percentage hike must be provided. Even if the legislation fixes a particular percentage of fee hike each year, the base year over which the fee hike is allowed/calculated must be specified.
They also wanted parental permission for the price increase, as well as measures for parents and students to have the right to appeal any order issued by the Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA), as well as time-bound resolution of complaints and grievances submitted by either parents or schools.
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