Fee hike row: Noida DM urges CBSE to intervene

Following in the footsteps of Delhi government, the Noida district administration has taken serious note of allegations levied by the parents of school-going children regarding arbitrary increase of fees by some schools in the city.

Steps taken by the administration:

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has been asked to intervene in the matter

The setting up of a committee has been suggested in order to look into the allegations

An audit of the schools being named was asked to be conducted

A fee regulatory commission was also asked to be formed, so that the transparency regarding the same is maintained

To look into the demands of the parents, the district magistrate had even formed a five member committee, which is headed by the city Magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar.

In its letter to CBSE, the following findings of the committee have been mentioned:

"During fact finding, it was found that certain schools indulged in very high and unwarranted hike of fee last year," the letter read, according to TOI

It further stated that the schools were charging money on different accounts including annual charge, development fee, scholarship fund, etc, apart from the fee according to the state government's standards

It also questioned the developmental fund being charged and said that it did not seem justified and said the parents are not being informed the basis on which the same was being charged.

Commenting further on the issue, the letter stated that charging the same amount as development fund from all the students but providing facilities to a selected few was not justified

The letter also highlighted the blind eye the schools have turned towards the provisions for EWS category under the Right To Education Act, 2009

"There is a provision to reserve 25 percent seats under EWS category. But, majority of the schools are showing neglect towards this provision. On enquiring about this, the schools merely said that despite their best efforts, they could not find adequate number of students in relation to the seats. However, they did not provide any proof for the said attempts being made," the letter said

Further, according to the rules, at least 10 percent of seats have to be reserved for bright students of the scheduled caste and tribes and the fee charged to them should not be more than what is decided for them by the Uttar Pradesh Education Board. However, most of the schools were happily violating this rule.

On the issue of books and uniforms being sold in the school premises, the DM suggested the following:

NCERT should ensure that before a session commences, they have enough printed books and students do not face a shortage of the same

Standard norms should also be in place for selling uniforms.

Source:-  Indiatoday