Team News Riveting
The serious flaws in the fee regulation norms had armed many academic institutions to collect unsubstantiated money from the parents amidst pandemic.
Recently, Chhattisgarh High Court passed an order apropos fee disputes flaring up between school management and parents. The petitioner was Bilaspur-based Private school management association.
It said: “It is also ordered that until the situation formalises (related to Covid-19) the school must ensure that they would collect only Tuition fees and not any other fees.”
Interestingly, many academic institutions in Chhattisgarh collect money from the parents every two or three months. The receipts are given without mentioning in which head the fee has been collected. If it is under tuition head, the amount will be nominal.
This has created dispute between the parents and the management. The state government shall have ensured that the schools clearly underline the head in which the fee is collected.
State’s own regulations have many flaws. In the last assembly session, the Chhattisgarh private school fee regulation bill 2020 has been passed. Ironically, the bill does not define ‘tuition fee”.
It lacks autonomy and transparency that will result in frequent clashes between parents and school management; finally taking the dispute to the court of law.
Even parents will have the least say in the three-member committee. For, the parents’ representative will be nominated by government and school. The representative will be under their influence as the collector can remove him or her without citing any reason.
The state government shall have constituted an independent or autonomous authority headed by a retired High Court judge. Instead, it will directly deal with all disputes related to parents and school management.
The flaws in the regulation has come as a handy tool for the school management even as disputes with parents increasing across the country for allegedly collecting hefty fees for offering ‘virtual class or digital calls’.
Parents from eight states had approached the Supreme Court seeking directions to bring in regulatory mechanisms for fees in private schools during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
The management is collecting full fees from the students, but most of the academic institutions are paying half salary to the teachers. No regulations for teachers’ rights.
The arrogance of a few institutions could be gauged by the Gujarat incident. When the state government asked private schools not to charge fees for the lockdown period, most of it suspended even online classes.
In my case at Ahmedabad, my kid’s school is collecting only tution fee, which clearly mentioned in their APP.
And even school management is not forcing parents to pay fees. they are giving reminder to parents but telling to deposit as per parents convenience.