Private schools may hike fees with RTE in place

Source:indiaedunews:April 01, 2010


New Delhi: The Right to Education as a Fundamental Right has although been officially announced by the Prime Minister today in the morning but the after-effects, which are already up in arms occupy the private schools profusely.

The private schools in the capital acknowledge the possibility of a fee hike since they require funds to support the 25% reservation of students from weaker and disadvantaged sections, which is now mandatory for every school.

The mandates of the Act specify that the State government is responsible for the tuition fees of these students. But the recompense will be equal to what the government spends per child in its own schools or fees charged by the private school, whichever is less.

This policy does not satisfy the needs of the private players who feel that the amount which they actually spend on each child is not sufficient for these students which is why the funds would be generated in the form of hiked fees.

Bharti Sharma, principal, Amity International School, Saket, said that, "Having state-of-art facilities and extra teachers ensuring children a good environment to study does not come cheap."

According to the rules framed by the government, 400 schools, which have received land from the government at subsidized rates are obligated to reserve 15% seats for students belonging to the EWS category.

Principal of Tagore International School, Madhulika Sen said that their school is an example of such an obligation.

"There is only a 10% hike for us. Funds for 15% do not come regularly so I am apprehensive about the 25%. Come this academic session, we are bound to charge Rs.2800 from each student and the government will not even recompense with even half of this amount. We are thus left with no other option but to hike the fee," she said.

The private schools in March challenged the Act in the Supreme Court on the grounds that it violated the rights of private educational institutions under Article (19)(1)(g).

Parents are unhappy about the recent hike while the Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely assured that there is going to be no hike in school fees.