Gujarat: Over 50% schools fail to submit fee proposals

More than 50% self-finance private schools across the state have stayed away from filing affidavits or proposals regarding fee structure before the Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC) for which the last day was Tuesday. The Supreme Court in its interim order in the case filed against the FRC Act of state government had said that all the private schools must submit their proposals before the committee by July 31.

Sources in the Education Department said, “There are around 4,000 private self-finance schools in the state and almost half of them were to file affidavit that they charged fees as prescribed by FRC or submit a proposal justifying higher fees. Hardly 2,100 schools turned up.”

The source said that schools had been avoiding submission before the FRC to save collected fees. “They are trying to hide how much fees they collected in the past four years,” added the official.

The SC had also directed the state government to put together a list of curricular activities that can be charged by schools. The government had notified the schools but most of them did not respond. As per FRC rules, a private school can collect Rs 15,000 from each student in primary sections every year, Rs 25,000 from secondary sections and Rs 30,000 from higher secondary sections.

FRC member Rupin Pachchigar said, “So far, 280 schools have sent their proposals to charge higher fees, while 100 schools said their fee structures were below FRC’s formula. I think equal number of schools are yet to make submission. FRC has the power to impose fine up to Rs 5 lakh on defaulters.”

SCHOOLS QUEUE UP

Nearly 95% schools submitted proposals on Tuesday. According to the District Education Officer, of the 171 schools in Ahmedabad zone which were to submit proposals, 48 submitted affidavits and 83 proposals. For Ahmedabad (city), of 36 schools, 14 filed affidavit and 22 proposal. For Ahmedabad (rural), of the 21 schools, 4 filed affidavits and 13 proposals