Wilful defaulters and government’s attitude worsening fee issue, say schools

Nagpur: A pan-Maharashtra schools’ association on Tuesday alleged that the fee issue is getting complicated because of both “wilful defaulters and government’s unreasonable” attitude. An online press conference, spearheaded by Independent English Schools’ Association (IESA) but attended by other school associations as well, raised concern over the stand-off between parents and schools which is being witnessed across the state.
Rajendra Singh, president of IESA, said, “The wilful defaulters are the ones who protest outside education offices and in urban areas where media presence is high. In many of the protests we see many people who are not even parents of that school. The purpose of such protests is, hence, questionable,” said Singh.
IESA member-schools claim that their financial condition, due to non-receipt of fee, is poor. Singh said, “We did an internal survey and found that many schools said they will have to shut down if the situation continues like this. Private unaided schools have contributed in a huge way to raise the bar of education in the state, hence it’s a disappointment that the government is also treating them this way.”
Recently, the education department has been issuing notices to schools whenever an issue which is linked to fee dispute comes to them.
Singh said, “They threaten to cancel our recognition, so we have decided that we will voluntarily surrender that document personally to the education minister.”
IESA defended the schools’ demand to claim fee under non-academic heads (library etc), whereas parents questioned the reason for it, considering that the facility was not availed of.
Singh said, “We are not a service provider like cable TV, where you don’t watch a channel and then there’s no need to pay for it. As per the rules, we can charge fees only under certain heads. There is no section called non-academic.”
There have been multiple cases across Maharashtra over schools not issuing TC to students who did not clear pending dues. Singh said, “Fee receipts help pay teachers salaries and meet other fixed expenses.”
About fee disputes, IESA maintains that the matter must be put before the proper authority. “The divisional fee regulatory committee (DFRC) has now been established and that’s where this matter must be disputed,” said Singh.