More than three years after the state government initiated the process to amend its laws and rules governing school fees in response to a slew of complaints, there appears to be little headway.
In a recent reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query, the state school education department revealed that it’s yet to act on the report submitted by a committee tasked with suggesting changes to the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act, 2011 as well as the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Rules, 2016. The proposed amendments have been sent to the law and judiciary department, which in turn has raised certain queries about the proposal, the government has said.
The act was previously changed in 2018, when the then BJP-led state government brought in an amendment to allow schools to hike fees by up to 15% once every two years. It also allowed schools to declare fees for the next 5-10 years when a child gets admission in Class 1. This, according to critics, undermined the role of parents and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in fee-related decisions.
Formation And Purpose Of The Committee Addressing Indiscriminate Fee Hikes
However, after the Covid-19 pandemic caused widespread financial hardships, many parents started protesting against exorbitant fees at private schools. Numerous complaints – online and offline – were filed over indiscriminate hiking of fees.
Owing to administrative challenges in implementing the Act and rules, the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government formed a committee comprising government officials and headed by former joint secretary of the school education department Imitiyaz Kazi.
The panel was asked to suggest changes after studying the fee-related laws and rules from other states as well as the court decisions and statutes about self-financed schools and minority-run institutes. The committee was also expected to devise a mechanism to address complaints related to indiscriminate fees.
Government's Secrecy On Committee Report Disappoints Parents and Activists
While the committee has since submitted its report, the government, in its RTI reply, refused to share the document or divulge anything from it. The reply cited the provision of the Right to Education (RTE) Act that allows withholding cabinet papers, including records of deliberations of the council of ministers, secretaries and other officers.
While the government says that it intends to act according to the report, parents and activists are dismayed by the delay. “The Kazi committee was formed after it was revealed that the schools were unilaterally looting the parents during Covid. However, the government has refused to share its report and is instead non-committal. The government apparently lacks the will to implement the report’s suggestions,” said Nitin Dalvi, from Maharashtra State Student-Parent Teacher Federation, a city-based organisation.
