Notice to three pvt schools over ‘fee hike’

Ludhiana: Three private schools of the district were on Thursday issued show-cause notices following complaints of high fees being charged in the ongoing session. A task force comprising three government school principals were sent to city schools to verify these complaints. They have received around 320 complaints so far.
Punjab education minister Harjot Singh Bains had issued show-cause notices to 30 private schools across the state, including three from Ludhiana. Bains had earlier asked all the schools to inform the education department about all fee-related changes.
District education officer (secondary) Harjit Singh also inspected two such schools on Thursday. He said, “The teams will visit the schools and take information regarding changes in the school fees, books, affiliation, and no-objection certificate.” He informed the process would be completed by April 30. While adding that the education department regularly undertakes such inspections, he encouraged the parents to report any malpractice to the government.
The district-level task force includes Vishwakirat Kahlon, principal of GSSS Model Town; Satwant Kaur, principal of GSSS Guram; and Vishal Vashisth, principal of GSSS Chakohi. Kahlon informed that the task force would conduct the probe and submit the final report to the state-level committee.
Meanwhile, maintaining anonymity, the principal of one of the three schools said, “We have increased 5% of school fee this year as we had not increased it in the last two years due to Covid-19.”