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| Private schools continue to fleece people in garb of education | | | Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Dec 24: The private schools have turned education into money minting machine without any check by the government.
Education department has been reiterating its commitment of ensuring fee regulation of all the private educational institutions in the state time and again, but on the ground it seems to have failed to take necessary actions against certain big and influential schools which have turned into commercial enterprises. In November last year, the Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) had ordered the constitution of 'Special Cells' in the offices of all Chief Education Officers (CEOs) to implement the orders issued earlier by the Fee Fixation Committee on fee regulation in private schools.
The DSEK had asked the cells, which were supposed to be headed by the respective CEOs, to monitor the implementation of FFC orders in the schools and submit monthly progress reports. However, nothing such is being followed.
Imran, a class fourth government employee, applied for a seat for her daughter in a noted school of Srinagar. After approaching the school authorities, he was charged Rs 90,000 for enrolling his daughter in pre-nursery class. He complained to the government authorities about the fleecing, but to no avail.
He knew that the school only wants to make money. But he was helpless, unable to battle the school. Asif, a resident of Rajbagh, had no option but to sell gold jewellery of his wife for the admission fee of his daughter.
"I could not have enrolled my daughter in this school had I not sold the jewellery," he says, whose daughter is now studying in one of the prominent schools in uptown Srinagar.
The private schools are always in news at the commencement of new academic session every year for resorting to illegal profiteering by charging donation from parents and selling text books, uniforms at exorbitant rates as well. Such practices become a routine in all leading private schools in the absence of lax regulations.
There are thousands of parents who are fighting over a few hundred seats in a limited number of good schools in the Valley.
Sharing similar experience, another parent Safiya also expressed helplessness over the high admission fee charged by the private institutions.
She said, "I was dead against paying donation, but as a parent one has many considerations. We did a lot of research and found very few schools meeting our requirements. Such schools invariably came with a huge price tag as they know they are in demand."
Similarly, the School Education Department has failed to implement the recommendations by two expert committees-one set up over directions by the High Court last year-to reduce the weight of heavy bags of school children.
Director School Education, Kashmir Dr GN Itoo, on Sunday issued an order that "private schools can charge tuition and transport facilities from the parents for winter vacations only when they are giving the salary to the teachers and drivers for these months".
"During vacation period fee is to be charged only for the services which are being utilized by the students and no other fee can be charged. Schools can charge only tuition fee in case of teachers and salary of drivers in case of transport. No heating charges can be recovered from students when these services are not being used by students during vacation period," read the order.
However, the order has drawn criticism from parents, who called it "illegal" and said they were not taken on the board.
Convener, Parents Association of Privately Administered School (PAPAS) Asma Goni, said that private schools have been telling the government that they have to pay the salary to the staff and the bus drivers.
"The government has to check the gross and net profit of schools before taking any decision. Our schools remains open for few months only but students are being charged for entire year," she said.
Opposing the order, she said that it was not possible to keep the schools open during winters in Kashmir. |
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