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Private schools in Chandigarh allowed 8% fee hike, parents cry foul
Chandigarh adviser Dharam Pal had on Wednesday issued an order regarding the fee hike in compliance with a May 2021 Supreme Court order
After its decision to bar schools from hiking their fee in the 2020-2021 session, the UT administration has allowed private unaided schools in Chandigarh to impose an 8% hike in the upcoming 2022-2023 session, as permitted under the Right to Education Act.
UT adviser Dharam Pal had on Wednesday issued an order regarding the fee hike in compliance with a May 2021 Supreme Court order.
Amid the pandemic outbreak, in June 2020, the chairman of the UT disaster management committee had issued an order, directing private unaided schools to charge only tuition fees and not increase fees for the 2020-2021 session. This has now been withdrawn by the UT adviser.
Appreciating the decision, Independent Schools’ Association (ISA) president HS Mamik said, “Most schools didn’t hike the fees for the 2021-2022 session on their own. Now that things are coming back to normal, we also have administrative costs to take care of and have to pay our staff. So, this step was much-needed.”
Parents, however, have voiced their displeasure at the move. Chandigarh Parents’ Association president Nitin Goyal said, “The GDP of the country has crashed and the middle class has been the worst hit amid the pandemic. Private schools charged full fees even when their expenditure was lower when schools were shut down. As parents are still struggling due to salary cuts and layoffs, private schools must not raise their fees this year as well.”
The UT education department, meanwhile, issued another order, asking that deduction of 15% be provided in lieu of underutilised facilities in the 2020-2021 session.
Mamik said most schools are yet to receive the order, which was issued on Thursday. The order also disallows schools from withholding names of any students appearing for board exams in case of unpaid fees.
Some parents had pointed out that these children had not only appeared for the board exams for the 2020-2021 session, but were soon set to appear for the 2021-2022 session exams in March. Officials of the UT education department remained unavailable for comments regarding this.
Parents have organised numerous protests regarding fee waiver for the lockdown period over the last two years. While the administration had issued orders in this respect in 2020, no decision was taken for the 2021-2022 session.
Among the recognised private schools in the city, 38 are senior secondary, 18 high, 13 middle, seven primary and three playway schools.
