Bhopal: Several private school associations including the Sahodaya groups have objected to several provisions of the state governments’ Private Schools Fee Regulation Act draft. Last date for filing objections on the draft was July 25.
State government has planned to come up with a fee regulation act that would control the fees in private schools. A months’ time was given to file objections on the draft after notification that ended on July 25. Several private school associations including the Sahodaya groups too submitted their objections.
President of the Private School Owners Association, Ajit Singh said that government is trying to impose ‘inspector-raj’ through the proposed Act and trying to destroy the private schools in state. “The new fee regulation Act has a provision that hike should not be more than 10%. Moreover, the proposal for fee hike should be submitted to the district collector 150 days prior to implementation,” said Singh. This would leave school owners to the mercy of administrative forces and open ways for exploitation, he added.
The association has also objected to fee payment done only through banks. Explaining about it, Singh said that private schools in rural areas would face problems as parents generally prefer cash payment. Other mode of payments too should be considered seeing varied demography of the state. Singh alleged that though the rules have been framed for private schools but the committee that drafted the rules did not have any member from the private schools. The private school association insisted that rules should also be made for security of the school staff.
