Pune: State Education Minister Vinod Tawde was heckled yet again by parents angered by school fee hikes, at a function in Fergusson College on Friday. This is the second time in two days that irate parents have heckled the Minister in the city.
Mr. Tawde finally met the protesting parents for an hour in the evening, assuring them that he would hold a meeting between authorities from the 18 private schools and various parents’ associations in Mumbai in his presence.
“We will be hearing the cases of all 18 schools against whom parents have complained about the fee hike. I will review seven of these schools in the first phase. Furthermore, a committee, in which five parents will be included, will be formed to monitor fee hikes in future,” Mr. Tawde said, adding that “a solution would be reached soon”.
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He also said that action would be sought in consumer courts against schools which made it compulsory to buy costly books, uniforms and other study material.
“Many CBSE and ICSE schools levy high fees, which many students cannot afford. We are strengthening the Fee Regulation Act to prevent schools raising fees arbitrarily. Unfortunately, when a parent enrols his ward in a school, the fees are different from what the school demands in later years,” Mr. Tawde said.
Parents in Pune have been accusing Mr. Tawde of refusing to meet them or take any concrete action against the fee hike.
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The Minister’s statement earlier this month that schools can increase fees by 15% in two years had courted controversy, with parents alleging that it went against the school fee regulation law.
According to the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Collection of Fee Regulation) Act, 2011, enforced from 2015, if the difference between fees decided by the management and approved by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) executive committee is not more than 15%, then the fees approved by the PTA will be binding.
The Act further stipulates that private school managements must seek the PTA executive panel’s approval for any fee hike six months before the start of the new academic year.
Agitating parents have complained that in many schools, the PTA has approved of fee hikes without consulting the Fee Act.