To each his own argument

The issue of fee hike across schools is getting hotter with parents forming a vigilance body on Sunday to protest against the hike. Yet, school managements are adamant that their decision is completely legal.

Confusion galore
Confusion prevails over the issue as on the one hand, schools like Rosary have refused to roll back the fee hike decision on the basis of the argument that the increase is completely legal, whileu00a0 on the other hand the deputy director of education Sunil Magar has issued notices to three schools for illegally hiking fees.

These schools had not sought the board's permission to hike fees, as is necessary.

"It is mandatory for them to take our permission and we also received parents' complaints, so we have sent notices to them," said Magar.

The administrator for the Rosary group of schools said that it didn't plan to refund the fees.

"The high court has said we can hike school fees up to 50 per cent and we have replied to the deputy director stating the same. Hence, there is no question of refund until the next order from the court," he said.

Minister's solution
To end the confusion, state school education minister Balasaheb Thorat said it is clear that no school can hike fees without the consent of the school's Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and seeking prior permission from the education department.

"The schools will have to show the expenditure to the PTA and later take consent from the deputy director of education to hike the fees," said Thorat. "We are coming up with the final government resolution (GR) on this issue within three to four days."

Thorat had earlier said that schools that hike fees would be forced to refund the fees by the education department.

President of Mumbai-based NGO Forum for Fairness of Education Jayant Jain said that there was a need for clarity on fee hike issue.

"Actually in the last hearing, the honourable court had refrained from commenting on fee hike. The state had said that it took back its GR that forbade schools from collecting arrears for the year 2008 and 2009," said Jain.
"However, what the GR didn't add was that while schools can collect revised fees, they still needed to seek permissions that have led to the confusion or deliberate overlooking on part of schools."
(With inputs from Kranti Vibhute)