Mumbai
The ordinance proposes the statutory fee regulatory committee to entertain fee hike complaints only if at least 25 per cent parents from the school come together to register it.
Updated : Mar 23, 2018, 06:20 AM IST
Over two thousand parents from across the state have moved a petitioned asking the Maharashtra government to scrap a proposed ordinance. The ordinance proposes the statutory fee regulatory committee to entertain fee hike complaints only if at least 25 per cent parents from the school come together to register it.
The online petition, which was signed by parents across the country, was started by Satish Mundada, a Pune based parent on Wednesday. Mundada was a part of the committee formed by the state government to recommend amendments to its existing Fee Regulation Act (FRA), 2011. "The proposed amendment is unconstitutional. Any parent should be allowed to register a complaint if it is found to be illegal. Also, none of what the government now plans to implement was discussed by the committee and is therefore unjustified," added Mundada.
Prasad Tulaskar, another parent, who is a part of the committee, said the proposed amendment would only strengthen big school managements and would not help in addressing complaints with respect to fee hikes in any way.
"If a school hikes fees illegitimately affects 3,000 parents for instance , 750 may come together to register a complaint against it. Now, this is very difficult, considering most parents are afraid of raising their voice. The laws, instead of becoming stronger, will become toothless, as managements would get away with illegitimate hikes in the absence of a sizeable opposition," added Tulaskar.
Parents said that they would continue opposing the proposed ordinance in the coming days and are now preparing to file a writ petition in case the government passes it.
On Monday, State Education Minister Vinod Tawde announced that the government plans to introduce an ordinance to make amendments to the Fee Regulation Act, 2011.