Uttar Pradesh government bars fee hike in all schools in current session

LUCKNOW: The UP government on Thursday directed all schools, irrespective of their board affiliations not to hike fees in the current academic session, keeping interest of students and parents in mind following the Covid-19 second wave.
In case of non-compliance by schools, parents or wards can lodge complaints with the district fee regulatory committee.
A government order by additional chief secretary (secondary education) Aradhana Shukla stated if any school hikes fee for the new session, the additional amount will be adjusted in coming months. The fee applicable for academic session 2021-22 will be the same as followed by schools for academic session 2019-20.
Deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma, who heads secondary education in the state, said many families are grappling with reduced earnings due to the Covid-induced lockdown. “This is a small effort by the government to provide relief to parents, who suffered pay cuts or have low business turnover due to the pandemic shutdown and are struggling to pay school fees,” Sharma said.
The order directed schools to allow parents to pay monthly fees if they can’t submit quarterly fees at one go. Since schools have been closed for a longer duration and examinations are not being held offline, schools are barred from charging fees for examination, sports, science, library, computer and annual function. Also, schools cannot charge transport fees.
Schools have been asked to consider cases where parents fail to pay fees for a specific month when they or their wards contracted Covid. In such cases, schools must seek written requests from parents and the unpaid fee should be adjusted through instalments in next months. Also, schools must ensure release of salaries to their teaching and non-teaching staff regularly. The district inspector of schools should ensure strict compliance, said the government.
“We thank the government for the fee hike ban. At the same time, we request authorities to act against schools who don’t comply with the order,” said Keshav Sharma, a parent who has two kids studying in private schools in Lucknow. Office bearers of UP’s Unaided Private Schools Association (UPSA) said, schools supported parents by following government orders during the pandemic. “The latest order too will be followed in letter and spirit with the hope that parents will pay up dues monthly,” said UPSA president Anil Agarwal.