Members of All School Parents Association met the joint director of education (JDE), Meerut, with complaints over fee hikes and fees under unexplained heads.
Continuing their offensive on private schools, members of All School Parents Association (ASPA) of Ghaziabad met Mahendra Dev, joint director of education (JDE), Meerut, over the issue of unexplained fees being charged by private schools.
They demanded that since the district administration of Ghaziabad had handed over their report on fee hikes to the state government and it was the government’s responsibility to decide over the issue, the schools should put their charges on hold till the government came up with a proper plan of action, and not pester parents.
Shivani Jain, president of ASPA, told City Spidey that they approached the JDE’s office as it provided the NOCs for affiliations of private schools in Meerut zone. Jain said, “On October 26, 2016, the joint director passed a set of guidelines for privately run schools, which included rules for charging fees, usage of land, renewal of NOCs, etc.”
Although the guidelines brought much relief to parents, it was short-lived. “The schools soon flouted the guidelines and were high-handed in dealing with parents. Since the district administration has washed of its hands from the issue, we requested the JDE to issue notices to the schools for violation of the guidelines,” added Jain.
According to a government order dated January 15, 2010, schools cannot have a provision for charging annual development fee or fees under unexplained heads.
The parents said that they had also learned that the order has been recently challenged in the Allahabad High Court by Delhi Public School along with other private schools on the grounds that they were unaided institutions. The schools have demanded that the order should not be applied to them. Judicial proceedings over the issue are underway.
Speaking to City Spidey, Dev said that a group of parents from Ghaziabad had met him with complaints regarding fee hikes and charges under unexplained heads.
When asked about the nature of action that can be initiated over the issue, Dev said, “Notices will be issued to schools whose names were mentioned in the complaints. We will ask them not to charge unexplained fees from parents.”
