Pune gets five-member fee regulation panel to address parental complaints

The committee for Pune district has retired district judge Vivek Hood as chairperson, and four members, including Gangadhar Mhamane, retired director of education; T N Supe, divisional chairperson of Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education; chartered accountant Abhijeet Mahale; and regional deputy director of education, Pune.

The Maharashtra Fee Regulation Act, 2011, has provisions for the formation of a divisional fee regulatory committee to resolve fee-related complaints between school management and parent-teacher association (PTA). According to the Act, schools can only increase annual fee by maximum of 15 per cent every two years. The decision to hike fee has to be approved by the PTA, which is formed at the school level.

Education activists, however, have already raised objections. “There is a basic flaw in the rules that makes the entire process difficult for parents. First, if any parent has to complain to the DFRC, it has to be done within a month of fee hike, but many schools hiked their fee last year. In many schools, PTAs are not in place due to the pandemic. However, according to the Act, PTA approval is needed for fee hike and it is the PTA that can make complaint against fee hike. If not, 25 per cent parents can come together and make a complaint. But this goes against the principle of justice. Even if a single parent has a complaint, why should they not get a hearing? All these issues need to be ironed out, just forming DFRC isn’t enough,” said Mukund Kirdat, activist and chief of the city unit of the AAP.

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