Delhi govt gives green signal to school fee hike

New Delhi: Heeding to the demand of private schools, Delhi government on Wednesday approved a slab-wise fee increase in private schools in the national Capital, putting the cap at Rs 500.

"The Cabinet decided that the hike in fee will range from Rs 100 to Rs 500 depending on the current fee structure of the schools. The hike will be effective from September, 2008," Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said.

Elaborating on the decisions, Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said schools were placed in different categories depending on the current fee structure of the schools.

He said any school, which is currently charging a monthly fee of Rs 500 will be allowed to hike Rs 100. Likewise any school charging a monthly fee of Rs 1000 will be allowed to effect a maximum hike of Rs 200.

Lovely said schools charging a monthly fee of Rs 1500 can hike Rs 300 and those having fee structure ranging from above Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 will be able to hike not more than Rs 400.

For rest of the schools with monthly fee of more than Rs 2,000 will be allowed to hike the fee Rs 500, he said.

On the arrears, Lovely said maximum cap on the arrears will be Rs 4,000 which would be payable in two installments.

"A school charging a monthly fee of Rs 500 will be able to collect arrears of not more than Rs 1,000. The schools charging a monthly fee of Rs 2,000 and above can collect maximum arrears of Rs 4,000," he said.

Dikshit said government has decided to form a committee to look into the grievances of the schools if they are not satisfied with the fee hike approved by the Government.

"If any school has any problem with the fee hike, they can submit their accounts and audit reports within the next 30 days to the committee. It will scrutinise their financial position and then take a decision accordingly," Dikshit said.

She said the committee will comprise Education Director, Education Secretary, one member of the school management, one member of the Parents Teachers Association and a chartered accountant.

"After scrutiny, if the committee feels that the schools is running into a financial crisis, a decision will be taken accordingly," she said.

Lovely said those schools which have sound financial position are not bound to hike the fee.

The Education Minister said after affecting the hike, schools will not be able to hike the fees till March next year.

He said even parents and teachers could approach the special committee if they have any grievances.

The Cabinet decision came a day after Education Secretary Reena Roy submitted her report to the Education Minister after examining recommendations of the SC Bansal Committee.

The Bansal committee was formed in October 2008 to look into the demand of private schools ostensibly to pay their teachers as per the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.