JAIPUR: Giving relief to millions of parents, the state government has finally released the criteria based on which private schools can charge fees from students.
According to the order issued by the directorate of secondary education, Bikaner, on Wednesday for classes IX to XII, private schools (both RBSE and CBSE) can charge fees only after taking into account the portion of syllabus reduced for the year. Hence, for RBSE students in classes IX to XII whose syllabus has been reduced by 40%, schools can charge only 60% of the annual fees.
Similarly, for CBSE, 30% of the syllabus has been reduced and, hence, schools can only charge 70% of the fees.
Fee here only includes ‘tuition’ fee. The fees usually charged from students for sports, library, laboratory, development charges or boarding will not be applicable this academic session as these facilities have not been provided. This decision is applicable for students of the 2020–21 batch from classes IX to XII.
The order further says that the syllabus already covered by schools through online classes will be considered as ‘capacity building’. For this, schools can charge a fee amounting to 60% of the tuition fee. Capacity building fee can also be charged subjectively by schools with the consent of parents.
This can be paid in monthly instalments.
It also says that the reduction of syllabus for classes I to VIII has not been decided yet. Hence, the fee decision for them will be taken after the state government issues orders for the same.
Schools have been prohibited from increasing their fees this session or changing the uniform. “Parents will be allowed to pay fees on a quarterly basis. Following the order to reopen schools, students will be allowed only with the permission of parents. If any student opts for school transport after reopening, they can be charged the transport fee as per last year. But transport fee cannot be hiked this session,” the order stated.
Since schools are getting ready to reopen, any student who do not want to continue with online classes will be taught as per the syllabus decided by the board in offline mode.