The issue of revision of school fees and the conflict between parents and private school managements remains unresolved. A consensus could not be reached in the meeting between the Education Department, managements’ associations and parents’ associations on Friday.
At the end of detailed discussions, it was decided that Commissioner of Public Instruction V. Anbu Kumar would submit a report to the government on the issue.
The final decision is likely to be taken by the State government.
Recently, parents of children enrolled in a private school tried to draw the attention of Minister for Primary and Secondary Education S. Suresh Kumar to the issue of payment of fees by sweeping the road in front of his house. Parents have been protesting against private school managements for allegedly forcing them to pay fees, failing which their children are not allowed to attend online classes.
At the meeting, parents’ associations demanded that apart from tuition fees, schools should not collect any other fees. They also said that if a school has 100 to 250 children, there should be a 15% deduction in fees, 25% deduction if there are 250 to 500 children, 50% deduction if there are 500 to 1,000 children, and only 25% to be collected if there are more than 1,000 children.
However, the school managements’ associations pointed out that they were also struggling since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each association presented a formula for fee revision.
The Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS) sought a uniform deduction of around 2025% irrespective of the number of children in a school while the Karnataka Unaided School Managements’ Association (KUSMA) was agreeable to a 30% deduction in fees.
The Recognised Unaided Private Schools Association (RUPSA) did not want any deduction where the total fees is no more than ₹15,000.
