Private schools’ body writes to DoE seeking permission to ‘hike’ fee

The education directorate had on April 18 and August 28 last year ordered private schools in Delhi not to charge anything other than tuition fee in view of financial hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic

Days ahead of the start of the new academic session, an umbrella group of over 400 private schools in the national capital has asked the state education department to allow private institutions to increase their fee this new school year and to let them charge components other than tuition fee for all classes from April.

The DoE had also directed private schools to collect fees under other components, including annual and development charges. (HT File)

In a letter, sent to director of education Udit Prakash on Wednesday, the Action Committee of Unaided Recognised Private Schools said, “Schools are preparing a budget and their fee structure for the 2021-22 session. You are also aware of the critical financial position of schools on account of various factors. In fact, the private unaided schools in Delhi cannot survive unless the government permits the schools to hike their fee for the 2021-22 academic session and allow them to charge development fee and annual charges for the upcoming session.”

The education directorate had on April 18 and August 28 last year ordered private schools in Delhi not to charge anything other than tuition fee in view of financial hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and mandated that this component should be collected on a monthly basis, as against quarterly or annual payments.

The DoE had also directed private schools to collect fees under other components, including annual and development charges , on a pro-rata basis from the day in-person classes resumed for students. Many private schools had started collecting these components from students of classes 9 to 12 after their in-person classes resume between January 18 and February 5. However, schools are not allowed to charge for these components for entry-level classes till Class 8 which have not resumed in-person lessons as yet.

SK Bhattacharya, president of the association, said private institutions have found it difficult to pay teachers and other staff, and to manage expenses such as maintenance of buildings and transport.

Officials at several private schools echoed these sentiments.

The principal of a school in Shalimar Bagh said their expenses have increased “exponentially” due to the pandemic.

“Our regular expenses such as property tax, EMIs, and insurance payments have not reduced. The expenses have, in fact, increased exponentially due to online classes, and the infrastructure changes made to ensure compliance with Covid appropriate behaviour. Schools won’t be able to start a new academic session without development and annual charges.”

Officials said budget private schools had fared even worse.

The principal of a low-cost school in Narela Mandi said, “We still don’t receive the fee from nearly half the parents. We have not been able to pay our staff regularly for the last nine or 10 months, and some teachers have left because of that. We recently had to sign undertakings to give assurance to our teachers that they will be paid all the pending amount once the situation improves.”

Despite several calls and text messages, Prakash did not respond to requests for comment.

A senior official at the directorate said on condition of anonymity, “Representatives of private schools had met the director earlier this month to discuss the issue. However, the DoE has not taken any decision in this regard as of now.”

A state government spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.