Ghaziabad schools to roll back fee hike, partially

Amid raging controversy over 'unreasonable' fee hike by private schools, the district administration on Thursday ordered managements to roll back the increased fee, though partially.

Amid raging controversy over 'unreasonable' fee hike by private schools, the district administration on Thursday ordered managements to roll back the increased fee, though partially.

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The Ghaziabad district magistrate - who met a group parents at his office - said the managements have been given 24 hours to comply with the order.

"The hike should be as per the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court and it should not exceed 15%. Strict action will be taken against those who fail to comply with the order," said SVS Ranga Rao, DM.

A senior education department official and the sub-divisional magistrate also attended the meeting. "The fee hike in our school is not as steep as compared to some other schools. However, we will follow the DM's order," said Julius George, director of St Francis School, Ghaziabad.

According to parents, schools had increased the fee by 40%. They also alleged that some schools in the district were flouting RTE norms.

However, school managements disputed the parents' claim. "We follow RTE guidelines in our school. We had increased the fee by only 5-10% - which is nominal." said Seema Bajaj, principal of DAV Public School.