Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday said the Delhi government had revoked permission granted to a city school to change its fee structure and said that private schools cannot increase fees.
Mr. Sisodia, who also holds the Education portfolio, while addressing a press conference, announced the withdrawal of earlier permission granted to the Sanskriti School and said that the Arvind Kejriwal government will “not bow down to any pressure”.
“The Chief Minister and I have already received multiple complaints from parents regarding Sanskriti School doubling its fee. The school increased its fees by almost 75% which is unacceptable. Therefore, after consultation with CM Arvind Kejriwal, we are revoking the order issued for Sanskriti School regarding increasing the fee,” the Minister said.
Lapses in system
According to Mr. Sisodia lapses were found in the school’s functioning. Under the system called GAAP, it is necessary to follow a special system of accounting and audit but the school did not follow it, he said.
Also, he said, there was no need to increase the fees as the school already had a surplus amount gained during 2017-18, due to which their proposal to increase the fee was rejected by the government. “During the same year, we directed this school to pay the teachers under the Seventh Pay Commission from the surplus amount and not to put this burden on the students. But the school did not comply with this order,” the Minister said.
“A school gets permission for establishment only if it has a three-month salary fix-deposit for the staff. Therefore, now the demand to increase the fees is unreasonable because that amount has already been deposited as a fixed deposit since the inception of the school,” he said.
The Anil Dev Singh Committee constituted by the Delhi government had recommended that fees arbitrarily increased by private schools from 2010 to 2012 should be refunded. Now, the school wants to recover this amount from the students by showing it under the school expenses. Whereas the previously overcharged amount cannot be allowed to be shown as an expense, the Minister said.
“The school has not followed the Supreme Court order regarding depositing the development fund in a separate account. For all of these reasons, Sanskriti School cannot be allowed to increase the fees. Also, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no school is allowed to collect any amount other than the tuition fee,” he said.
“Parents have shared with me that they are under immense pressure to speak in favour of the school. The Kejriwal government will not bow down to any pressure,” he also said.