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| DPS Budgam charges Rs 93k for admission to kindergarten | | Valley private schools fleece parents | | Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Sept 21: Despite the government directing schools in Kashmir Valley not to hike fees for the academic year 2018-19, parents allege many schools are asking them to cough up an enhanced amount in the current admission season.
"I went to Delhi Public School, Budgam, to seek admission for my children for class LKG. I was shocked when the school management asked me to pay Rs 93,000 for the admission. Last year we admitted our children in the same school and that time we paid 75,000," said Bilal Ahmad, a resident of Bemina in Srinagar.
Another parent, Waseem Ahmad who had gone to various schools to seek admission for his two kids said the situation was similar.
The aggrieved parents said various private schools in Srinagar should explain the reason behind arbitrary fee hike without any prior notice. The parents also complain that the facilities and school infrastructure in various private schools is not up to the mark.
Sources said that it has become very difficult for middle-class parents to get their children admitted to private schools as instances have been reported where heavy sums are being demanded by the school authorities for admissions.
Sources said that in the absence of any check from the state government, many other private schools have demanded Rs 100,000 to Rs 1,50000 admission fee for nursery and LKG under the pretext of their institutions being English medium and providing quality education.
The educational experts have expressed concern over the abnormal increase in the fee pattern of private schools this year.
They suggested that government should immediately come out with legislation for regulating admissions and fee structure of private schools.
Sources said that one the reasons why parents hesitate to send their wards to government schools is the poor infrastructure in government schools. "Even teachers serving in government schools are also unwilling to send their children to government schools due to lack of quality education and other facilities. This has resulted in fee hike in the private schools," said a social activist.
It may be recalled that successive governments have been making tall claims about rapid improvement in the standard of basic education in the state-run schools, but today there has been no perceptible qualitative change visible to convince the parents admitting their wards.
Parents also complained that over the last few months several private schools have hiked school fees under different heads printing charges, other fee and activity fee from current academic session without consulting them.
"These schools are minting money from us in the name of disseminating education. The management of these schools never seek suggestions from parents before hiking the fee," said a group of aggrieved parents.
It is to mention here that authorities last week suspended the recognition of two prominent private schools in Srinagar for "exorbitant fee hike and non-compliance of orders" from the Department of School Education.
The authorities had ordered suspension of recognition of RP School Mallabagh and Green Valley Educational Institute, Ellahibagh, for exorbitant fee hike and non-compliance of orders from the Department, an official spokesman had said.
He said the government has cautioned all the heads of the private institutions not to hike the fee on their own and comply with the instructions and orders from the department in letter and spirit. |
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