DNA Edit: A Mixed Bag - Fee hike comes with a lighter school bag

The amendments to the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of fee) Act approved by the government that allows schools to raise fees by 15 per cent once in every two years purport to do a balancing act.

With RBI-mandated inflation pegged at 3 to 4 per cent, real inflation calculated at 5-6 per cent, and an average salary hike coming to 7 to 8 per cent, parents can manage the fee hike. The hike passed by the Maharashtra government is similar to what the Bombay HC’s interim order had said, allowing schools in the state to hike fees for the academic year 2016-17 up to 15 percent, that too without seeking permission from parents.

However, many parents may still feel that the government has made it easy for school managements to steamroll opposition because any resistance to the hike would require the support of 25 per cent of the parents in the affected school.

Schools often raise fees under the pretext of developing infrastructure or to increase the salaries of the staff. For aggrieved parents who feel that the school has not done enough to justify the hike, the struggle has become uphill.

Most parents are scared to protest against school authorities fearing discrimination against their wards. The new amendments also leave the door ajar for schools to squeeze in a higher percentage of hike beyond 15 per cent (under unforeseen circumstances), provided they can garner the support of 76 per cent of the parents or the parent-teacher executive committee.

Fee hikes in private schools is an issue that have riled up parents across India who feel they are being cheated in the name of quality education. Faced with growing clamour from parents, state governments have formulated laws to cap fees.

For instance, the Tamil Nadu government has mandated that private schools cannot raise more than 10 per cent of last year’s fee, and as per a Madras High Court order the fee structure would remain unchanged for three years.

The UP state administration made it clear that no private school would be allowed to raise more than 7-8 per cent, which will be based on consumer price index and increase in salaries of staff and teachers. That’s a fair criterion and the Maharashtra government has followed the same path.

One has to also keep in mind the constraints of the state government because a tighter squeeze on private institutions might force them to leave the state. That would lead to a decline in the overall standards of education.

However, another related development has made parents and students happy. At one stroke, the central government has reduced the weight of school bags. The education system, which encourages learning by rote, places undue emphasis on books and copies, thus saddling the child with an enormous weight.

The school bag had become a symbol of punishment. The HRD ministry’s order prohibits schools to ask students to bring additional books, and extra materials, keeping in mind the prescribed weight of a school bag. Children in classes I and II are now free of homework. Both parents and wards can now breathe a little easy.