Govt, schools fail to derive fee-profit formula

AHMEDABAD: Both the state government and the association of school managements in a meeting held on Thursday tried to derive a formula for fixing the percentage of fees as profit that can be generated by schools.
The Supreme Court had directed the Gujarat government and managements of private schools to jointly thresh out a scheme.

The SC had also ordered private schools to use the profits only to meet the objectives of the trust/society, for development of educational activities.

During the meeting on Thursday, chaired by chief minister Vijay Rupani and education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, the government asked the managements to submit their formula while the same demand was raised by the managements. It was also decided that another meeting would be held in the next 10 days to work out a formula for fixing the fee.

The meeting lasted for nearly two hours. Officials said that the managements made it clear that they were not willing to compromise on any issue.

During the meeting, the government officials requested the managements not to hand over leaving certificates to students in case they fail to pay the fees. However, the managements made it clear that even the government was not giving hall tickets to schools that had not deposited the amount.

The managements requested the government to inform the parents not to stick to paying the cap fees as decided by the government but pay fees as decided by the school managements.

The managements also told the government that they would refund the fee if the fixed fee is less than the collected fee.

The managements also conveyed their concerns that it should be the responsibility of the government to see that the quality of education did not suffer.