Telangana: Schools collect term fees, parents unhappy

HYDERABAD: With the state not issuing any fresh guidelines to school managements about collecting monthly fees, many schools in the city and elsewhere in the state have decided to collect term fees for the academic year 2022-23.
Parents said that the state should direct schools to collect only tuition fees every month until it comes out with fee regulation guidelines. “I was surprised to see that my child’s school has reverted to collecting term fees this year. It would be helpful if schools continue to collect monthly fees as many people are still reeling under the impact of Covid-19,” said a parent whose child is studying in Class 7.
Many parents wondered why there was no follow up to the announcement of the state government to regulate fees before the start of the academic year 2022-23.
“There are hardly 10 days left for next academic year to begin. When will the state regulate the fee? Many schools have already hiked the fee by over 30% and are forcing parents to pay fee term-wise,” said K Venkat Sainath, joint secretary, Hyderabad Schools Parents’ Association.
School managements, meanwhile, said that they have no option but to hike fees as the state is overburdening them with taxes. Shekhar Rao Y, president, Telangana Recognised School Managements Association, said, “The state is collecting fitness penalty on buses from managements. We have to pay green tax, trade licence, and GST. There is also a hike in municipal tax and current bills.” He said many schools have hiked fee by 20% to 30%.