Fee hike proposed for schools

NEW DELHI: It''s back to school timefor thousands of students as the new academic session rolls out on April 1.However, it''s also time for parents to gear up for loosening their pursestrings.Many public schools, including most of the prominent oneslike Modern, Springdales, Gyan Bharti and Tagore International, are set to hiketheir fees from the next academic session. Though a slight increasein fee is common every year, the hike is likely to range between 12 per cent and20 per cent.Principals say the main reason for the hike is mergingof the dearness allowance (DA) with employees'' basic salary. In someschools, the new property tax assessment slabs, and the impending reservation ofseats for underprivileged students may also contribute to the feehike."On an average, more than 60 per cent of a school''s earningsare spent on teachers'' salaries. The DA merger has hiked this amount by roughly10 per cent which is why many institutions have had to increase their fees,"said Tagore International (Vasant Vihar), principal Madhu Sen."Thefinancial burden on schools has gone up after the DA merger, and things arelikely to become more difficult once the quota system is in place. A hikebetween 15 per cent to 20 per cent is likely to be witnessed in institutions,"said one principal.According to norms issued by the directorate ofeducation, a school cannot hike its fees by more than 10 per cent in one go.Principals, on the other hand, claim they have been left with noother option."Parents representative, and nominees from thedirectorate were present at the meeting we held over the issue. A figure of 13.7per cent was agreed upon and the increase has been explained in detail," saidSpringdales school (Pusa road) principal, Ameeta MullaWattal.Officials at the directorate, insist that every school willhave to abide by the 10 per cent norm. "March 31 is the deadline forschools to submit their revised fee structures to us. We had forced severalschools to roll-back last year. The same will be done this time as well ifrequired," said director (education), Rajendra Kumar.The tussle onthe issue of fee hike has been a long drawn one. Stormy protests were witnessedabout seven years ago when a number of parents'' organisations came togetheragainst fee hikes in 1997. The Delhi Abhivavak Mahasangh had taken up the causeand also gone to court."Schools in east Delhi and Dwraka had beenforced to roll back the fee hike and pay upto Rs 50 lakh as damages," said DAMpresident, Vijendra Kumar.