High fee: HC notice to four Ahmedabad schools, govt

In response to a PIL alleging blatant violation of fee norms by various private schools in the state, the Gujarat high court on Thursday issued notices to the government departments concerned and to four schools of the city. All have been asked to file replies within a month. The schools issued notices are Zydus School, DPS, Anand Nikentan and Vedanta which have also been made a party in the case.

The PIL filed by Prakash Kapadia of the trust, Jageja Gujarat, has alleged that private schools in the city are charging exorbitant amounts as fee under various heads from students. The fees charged include security fee, development fee, lunch fee etc.

The petitioner has further claimed that this was in gross violation of government norms which state that no capitation fee, deposit, security deposit or any such fee under various heads can be charged from students. The petitioner also submitted the fee schedule of the four schools which were later issued notice by the high court.

Appearing for the petitioner, counsels Parul Joshi and Rashmin Jani argued that education, which is a noble initiative, had become a profit-making one.

The PIL further stated that private schools had been raising fee by 10% to 15% every year and that this was against government regulations. This was making education unaffordable for many parents, particularly those who had several children with substantial age difference, the petition stated.

It also said that, despite government notification forbidding such practice, private schools had different fee structures for students of different boards.

The petitioner lamented that given the dearth in the number of English medium schools run by the government, parents were forced to shell out huge amounts to educate their wards in private English medium schools.