Private schools in Odisha charge high fees, we want special audit: Parents

BHUBANESWAR: The state-level parents’ association has demanded a special audit of private schools saying a large number of them are operating without a No-Objection Certificate (NoC) or Certificate of Registration (COR) from the state government. The parents have further alleged that these schools are charging exorbitant fees and have sought immediate government intervention in the matter.
“Around 8,500 private schools in the state are running without an NoC or COR. These illegal schools claim to be affiliated to CBSE, without any such actual affiliation,” the Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangha (OAM) wrote in a letter to the chief secretary of Odisha on Thursday.
The parents, protesting under the ageis of OAM, said, “We have seen the profiteering schools taking huge money on the pretext of different fees such as that for admission, readmission, tuition, school bus, books, uniform, construction, maintenance and suchlike. According to a rough calculation, each such school is collecting Rs 55 crore every year, out of which it makes a profit of Rs 25 crore, if it has 3,500 students,” the letter added.
The parents also alleged that these schools are engaging fake teachers from among their relatives and family members, which is a violation of the rules of CBSE affiliation. “We request to order for a special audit of some schools, where the strength of students is more than 1,000 and verify the transactions made in the last three years,” the parents wrote.
Citing the Right to Education Act, the parents said the government may conduct an audit of the funds of the school as and when it thinks necessary to ensure that the funds or fees collected by the school authorities are not diverted for any other purpose. The audit can also verify if the staff is paid salaries regularly and any other financial irregularity.