Fee regulation Act: Parents want law to be stricter

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Bring pre-primary sections under its ambit; let individual parents, and not 25 per cent of a school's parents, complain over school fees; don't let school management representatives be a part of the fee regulation committee - these are some of the suggestions for amendments to the Maharashtra Fee Regulation Act a parents association has submitted to the state government.

Parents say the Act is toothless and has clauses that favour school managements. As school-fee related issues increased, demand for amendments has strengthened.

"The Act, passed in 2014, was amended by the previous government and favoured school managements. Since then, it has become of no use. The Act makes the very first step of complaining against a school difficult, with individual parents not having the right to complain. It became further useless as penal provisions and the time limit for grievance redressal at the Divisional Fee Regulation Committee (DFRC) were removed. The current government has shown a positive approach towards effecting change and has asked parents to submit suggestions," shared Anubha Shrivastava, from India Wide Parents' Association. The parents submitted a draft with the suggestions last week and are waiting for a follow-up discussion.

Shrivastava continued, "An amendment removed the pre-primary section from the Act. This section is the most profit-making area for school managements. We want the section to be reinstated both in relation to schools and standalone structures. Also, school management representatives being in the DFRC denies parents a fair hearing, especially when the complaint is against the management. A clause also made guilty school managements liable to pay a fine twice the amount wrongfully charged. This was replaced with a fixed fine. We want the original clause to be brought back to deter school managements."