Panel to probe private school fee hike

GURGAON: Following persistent appeals from parents on exorbitant fee hikes in private schools, the district administration on Friday formed a committee to resolve the issue and held a meeting with parents and representatives from private schools.
According to DEO (district education officer) Manoj Kaushik, 26 schools increased their fees by 10%, 79 raised it by 20% and 17 hiked it by 30%.
Headed by divisional commissioner D Suresh, the committee consists of the DEO of Gurgaon and Faridabad and other officials from the education department.
A sub-committee has also been formed for the purpose. While parents Manoj, Ramphal Sia, Amit Verma, Gauri Sarin from Gurgaon Action Plan and Naval Singh from Rewari will represent parents on the sub-committee, Col. Pratap Singh from CCA School, Suresh from Faridabad and S S Gosai will represent schools on the subcommittee.
The sub-committee, under the leadership of additional deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh, will give suggestions to the committee (headed by the divisional commissioner) on how much fee hike is justified by city private schools.
After a meeting with city parents and representatives from private schools, the committee agreed that education shouldn't be a profit-making venture. "Although frustration was palpable on the faces of several parents, they were positive about the formation of a committee to discuss the issue of fee hike by private schools. It remains to be seen how the two sides appreciate each other over time," said Gauri Sarin from Gurgaon Action Plan, a citizens' forum.
According to the norms of the state education department, all private schools need to submit Form 6 to the education department. Form 6 has information about expenditure and income of the school in a year. "The city has about 181 private schools, of which 160 submitted Form 6 to the district education office. Nearly 18 schools haven't submitted the form despite multiple requests," said Manoj Kaushik.
Col Pratap Singh from CCA School, who will be representing schools on the subcommittee, admitted that schools in the city charge more than Delhi schools, as most of them are still developing the infrastructure and spend more on AC buses.