Private school managements in the State have decided to display the fee structure of their schools on their notice boards from December.
Though the new few structure came into force in May 2018, the managements did not display them as most schools had already collected the fees for the 2018–19 academic year by then.
Private school managements and the State government were at loggerheads over the fee structure, as it had not been revised for 18 years.
At a press conference on Tuesday, D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said, “We are all now complying with the fee structure and all our member schools will display it from December.”
He said the move aims to bring in accountability and transparency. This has been the long-standing demand of parents. Schools that do not comply with the fee structure can be penalised up to ₹10 lakh.
For several years, school managements have been violating the fee structure policy, terming it “archaic”.
According to the new fee structure, besides recurring costs, school managements can charge an additional fee that differs based on the location — ranging from 70% of the recurring fee in gram panchayat and town panchayat limits to about 100% in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike areas. The special development fee has been raised to ₹2,500 from ₹600. Schools also are not allowed to hike the fees by more than 15% from the previous academic year.
Suchitra S., whose child is studying in class 3, welcomed the move. “We have been demanding this for several years now. This empowers parents as we can complain if schools do not comply with the fee structure displayed.”
The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights had also asked parents to lodge complaints with them if schools were violating the fee structure policy.
