Dahisar school charging illegal fees of ₹50,000
For the last three years, there has been a 10% fee hike every year, which was not approved by the parent-teacher association (PTA) executive committee.
Parents of students at a school in Dahisar have filed a complaint with the divisional fee regulatory committee, citing that the academic institution has been illegally charging additional fees from students.
The parents said that the school charges each student Rs50,000 as a non-refundable registration fee, which according to the complainant, constitutes as a capitation fee, which has been banned by the state government. An additional Rs3,600 is collected as an admission fee from Class 1 students.
The parents said that they were forced to buy books costing Rs1,350, directly from the school which also made it compulsory for uniforms to be purchased from them, allegedly at a higher price than the market rate. Additionally, parents of students are being made to foot computer fees of Rs2,200 and late payment fees of Rs100, for which no official receipts are issued.
“Last year’s Class 1 fee was Rs40,625, whereas, this year the school authorities are demanding Rs56,200 which includes admission fee of Rs3,600. This is a 38% rise compared to last year,” said one parent.
The complaint states that for the last three years, there has been a 10% fee hike every year, which was not approved by the parent-teacher association (PTA) executive committee. However, the school authorities, in their hearing with the parents, said that they would continue with the 10% hike as the PTA had approved it.
“There have been hearings with state education minister Vinod Tawde, who has also directed the school to lower their fee hike,” said a senior official from the office of the Deputy Director of School Education.
“We have decided not to vote in the upcoming state assembly elections till education is made affordable for our children,” said another parent. Alongside an investigation, the parents have demanded a refund of the initial registration fees, based on the prohibition of Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee) Act 1987.
The school principal was not available for a comment regarding the issue, despite several attempts to get in touch with her.