Maharashtra schools told not to hike fees, offer instalment payment

PUNE: Schools in the state, including private and semi-private, will not be allowed to hike their fees. Schools will have to offer parents monthly and quarterly options for fee payment for 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years, and make provisions for online payment too. They will also have to discuss facilities that are not being used during this lockdown period and accordingly try and reduce fees charged for such facilities.
These guidelines have been mentioned in a government resolution (GR) issued by chief secretary of education department Vandana Krushna.

Parents across the state have been opposing fee hikes by schools and have also been demanding at least 50% fee concession because of the economic losses suffered during the lockdown. They have written to schools that they were heavily depending on online education.
The GR said, “Parents in their complaints have stated that schools were forcing parents to pay fees even in the lockdown situation. The schools have been told not to force parents to pay fees of the current and previous academic years.”
Parents said many schools in the city are already asking for fees and are not offering concessions. In fact, many schools have hiked their fees.
Leena Mehta, a parent, said, “Schools are saying that the term has started and they are giving worksheets and sending videos or conducting online classes. They expect parents to teach their children these worksheets and are yet demanding full tuition fees.”
Another parent, Jasmine Victor, said, “Our school has uploaded the fee bill on the school app and has incorporated charges for library, transportation and even laboratory fees. Schools can definitely waive off these heads since they are not functioning as in normal times. Their facilities are not being used, so there is no maintenance either.”
One Rishabh Roy said, “We parents have come together and calculated the school fees considering all these concessions. We have given the school a proposal for reconsidering the fees.”
Education activist and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Mukund Kirdat said, “Just like the schools, even parents are facing losses due to salary cuts and many have even lost jobs. Schools are saving on transportation and other expenses. They should offer concessions.”
Manasi Marulkar, principal of Acharya Shree Vijay Vallabh School, said, “We have not decided about school fees yet. We will take a call soon.”
Nandkumar Kakirde, director and honorary secretary of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, said, “We have to pay our staff. Many parents have not paid last year’s fees too. While they have found new excuses, we are running the school and ensuring that every staff member is paid. We will have online classes, which will add to our expenses. Offering concessions is not possible; we can defer payments at best.”
Dhananjay Pardeshi, deputy education officer of the Pune Municipal Corporation’s education board, said, “We expect parents to write to us on fee issues. We will see the nature of complaints and look into the matter. There has been no official complaint yet.”
To register complaints regarding school fees, one may contact education officials Meena Shendkar (9890643222), Dhanaji Bute (9922458799), Jyoti Parihar (8888225364) or Dhananjay Pardeshi (9404609170).