In what may come as a relief to parents who are grappling with payment of school fees, the divisional commissioner, Gurgaon, wrote to the district education officer recently to ensure that schools do not charge fees in advance.
In the order, D Suresh, divisional commissioner and also the chairman of the Fee and Fund Regulatory Committee (FFRC), said, “The schools are advised to share its Form 6 with the parents and to refrain from charging fee contrary to what has been declared by them in the form. No advance fee would be charged by the school. However, it has been learned that schools raise the fee contrary to what is notified in Form 6.”
The order stated that detailed guidelines regarding charging of fees as reported in Form 6 filed within the mandatory time with the education department were being formulated by the department. They would determine the modalities of fee regulation and intervention by FFRC.
If the district commissioner’s directions come into effect, unaided private schools in the city would not be able to take fees of more than one month in advance. Most schools ask parents to deposit advance fees on a quarterly basis at the beginning of the academic session.