Nov. 7: The issue of escalating fees in private schools has become a matter of concern, with these schools fleecing parents with their arbitrary fee hikes every year. In this context, various parents’ associations are up in arms against the state government over the inordinate delay in setting up a ‘Fee Regulatory Authority’ for private schools.
These associations, such as Hyderabad Schools Parents’ Association and DPS Parents Association have now decided to take action by launching agitation programmes from next week, demanding the implementation of AP High Court orders on fee regulation.
On August 27 this year, the High Court had made it clear that the government has the right to regulate fee structures in private schools. But more than two months since the judgement was delivered, little has been done in this regard.
The government, which expressed its inability to regulate fees in private schools citing stay orders from the HC over the fee regulation orders issued in August 2009, has persisted with inaction even after those orders were vacated by the court exactly a year after they were issued. Since the stay orders were in force till August 27, the schools hiked their fees again in June this year at the beginning of the new academic year. Despite the parents lodging several complaints about the unreasonable fee hike, the government remained a mute spectator.
However, government officials said they were still examining a copy of the judgement and that it would take some time before they came out with a suitable action plan.
