HYDERABAD: NEARLY half the State’s schoolchildren study in private schools and yet the Telangana government has been surprisingly unwilling to keeping a check if these schools do not exploit the parents with exorbitant school fees and arbitrary hikes.
According to the last State-wise statistics released by the Unified District Information on School Education (UDISE) in 2016-17, there are around 12,600 private schools in the State, catering to nearly 50 lakh children. What this means is, private schools constitute only 29 per cent of all schools in the State but accommodate over 50 per cent of all students.
Meanwhile, apart from appointing the Prof Tirupati Rao committee to look into the issue, the TRS government has not done much that can result in action against any of the defaulting school authorities.
It remains to be seen how, with the back-to-back elections coming to an end, the government will take a concrete actions in the issue which affects lakhs of parents across the State.
When contacted, senior officials of the education department pointed out how they await directions from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao or even the Education minister, before taking any action against in the matter, in the absence of a policy. While Express correspondents spoke with District Education Officers in various districts who repeated how they did not have any power to regulate the fees that private schools demand.
UP, Bihar among states with a policy on fee structure
A major hurdle for taking any action on the issue of private school managements charging arbitrary fees, is the lack of a concrete policy on which the education department can fall back on, to take action against school managements.
“Whenever a parents association approaches a school regarding arbitrary hike in school fees, the managements argue that there is no structure or cap mandated by the government so they can set the fees according to their choice. There is a pressing need for the State government to have a concrete policy on school fees like so many other states,” said Nagati Narayana, State president of the Telangana Parents Association.
Narayana pointed out how there are policies in other states, like Gujarat where the State government have either fixed cap on the fees of primary, secondary and senior secondary schools or a school is given an opportunity to convince the fee regulatory committee if it wants to charge more. In Uttar Pradesh, the school fees is supposed to be based on the Consumer Price Index; in Maharashtra a fee hike of only up to 15 per cent is allowed, once every two years while in Bihar, the law mandates not more than 7 per cent hike in school fees.
Education department has no power to regulate fee hike
Warangal
‘we expect parents to pay for quality edu’
Private schools of Warangal Urban are all set to introduce a 10 per cent fee hike this year, with some schools charging as much as Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh, for pre-primary classes. Defending the hikes, Ramesh Rao, president of Un-aided Private Schools Association said, “Private schools are providing quality education hence we expect the parents to pay fees accordingly.” While the DEO, K Narayan Reddy claimed that whenever there is a complaint about excessive fee being charged by private schools action has been taken
Karimnagar
Rs 79,000 per year for kg classes
Lack of school fee regulation has resulted in Karimnagar schools hiking their fees to as much as Rs 79,000 per annum for even kindergarten classes. This is apart from the capitation fees collected which is anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 20,000. State secretary of the Telangana Recognised Schools Management Association, Yadagiri Shekar Rao, said that while students of government schools also secure perfect scores, parents continue to believe that only an admission into a private or corporate school will help their children get good scores. “Parents look at it all as a matter of pride,” added Rao. Karimnagar DEO, S Venkateshwarlu, confirmed that Karimnagar and Jagtial had no fee regulation panel
Mahbubnagar
infrastructure remains poor
Private school managements in erstwhile Mahbubnagar are charging anywhere between Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 per annum for even Class 1. And yet, they do not provide any good infrastructure. Since there is hardly any supervision by the education department in the matter, there is no one to keep a check on them. Responding to the issue, Mahbubnagar’s District Education Officer, Nampally Rajesh, told Express that fee regulatory committee does not exist in the district and there are no other provisions for controlling the school fees
Sangareddy
fee structures
are a secret here
In Sangareddy, private school managements prefer not to reveal their fee structures, not even to the Education department. According to the chairman of the Private School Managements Association, Pusala Linga Goud, schools are forced to hike fees to pay adequate salaries to their teachers and maintain good infrastructure but agreed that some hikes were simply unfair
Adilabad
‘need to increase teachers’ wages’
Adilabad’s private schools see a fee hike of 10 per cent nearly every year. Union leader of district’s private schools, R Pavan Rao, said, “We have to increase the fees to increase the wages of teachers. Most schools hike fees proportionately.” The education dept said there is no fee regulation panel in district
Khammam
No authority to regulate hikes: collector
With only a few days left before the schools reopen for a new session, parents are worried about paying their children’s school fees. Nearly all parents, irrespective of their financial status, want their children to study in a good private school, and the schools know this. There are 660 private schools from nursery to Class 10 in erstwhile Khammam district and most of them do not have a playground, fire safety equipments or any sanitation facilities. Speaking to Express the DEOs of Khammam and Bhadradri Kothagudem, P Madan Mohan and D Vasanthi respectively, said they do not have any power to regulate the hike in school fees. They said that they are pursuing all complaints raised by parents and warning school managements
Nalgonda
Spend more for jee, eamcet classes
In erstwhile Nalgonda district, private schools charge Rs 60,000 per annum or above for Class 10 apart from collecting capitation fees in the name of providing extra coaching for public examinations like EAMCET or the JEE. While the fees remains high, most private schools do not provide basic amenities. Nalgonda’s District Education Officer, B Sarojini Devi, asks why the implementation of the GO MS 1, issue by the State government, was stayed by the High Court. “With prevailing high expenses, we cannot run schools on government recommended fees. They are quite low,” says the working president of Nalgonda’s Private Schools Association, B Narsimha Goud