Regulating fees: Parent-private school body still in conflict

What is the fine line dividing profiteering from profiting? This semantic distinction has led to a dispute between parents and school officials on a committee looking into how fees of private schools should be regulated.

What is the fine line dividing profiteering from profiting? This semantic distinction has led to a dispute between parents and school officials on a committee looking into how fees of private schools should be regulated.

HT Image

The two sides are already in conflict over how their future conflicts over fees should be resolved: only three parents on the 17-member committee have rejected the first draft of the report, which it was supposed to submit to the government on August 30.

The remaining 14 members are school representatives.

“It does not include anything we suggested because we are not in a majority,” said Jayant Jain, president of the Forum for Fairness in Education and a parent on the committee.

A school representative on the committee denied that the numbers played a role. “Since we are only going to be making suggestions, the question of majority and minority doesn’t arise,” said Gregory Lobo, secretary of the Archdiocesan Board of Education for Christian schools.

The committee’s chairperson, Kumud Bansal, additional secretary for secondary and higher education, could not be reached.

Following a series of conflicts between parents and school managements over fees, the government appointed this committee in June.

The committee was to suggest guidelines for a proposed a fee regulatory authority.