Hyderabad schools told to justify high fees

Hyderabad: With the new academic year underway, the Hyderabad district administration has started to crack down on schools with abnormally high fee structures.

The district administration will be sealing about 118 schools for non-compliance with guidelines and failure to obtain recognition. Notices have also been served to about 770 schools in the city for not declaring their fee structures. They have been given till July 2 to display their fees.

Hyderabad Collector Mukesh Kumar Meena said that the 2,000-odd schools in the city had been asked to submit their fee structures to the district administration. But till date, only about 1,300 have done so. The remaining 770 have been given a deadline of July 2, after which they will be sealed. “From July 3, we will start sealing schools if they don’t submit their fee particulars to the district administration,” Mr Meena said.

To ensure that there are no discrepancies in the fee details submitted by the schools and what is actually charged, officials will display the fee structures outside the respective schools.

“If there is any difference in the displayed fee structure and the actual fee they have paid, parents can file a complaint with the District Education Officer,” he said.

School managements, whose fees have exceeded the set limits, will have to justify their high fee structures and decisions will be taken by the district admission. About 250 out of the 1,300 schools, which have already submitted their fee particulars, are charging fees in violation to norms. They have to justify their fee structures.

Most of these schools are willing to make their fee structures public, but they want an enhancement in the minimum fees. “They are willing to comply but they want an enhancement in the fee structure. But this is an issue for the DFRC and will be looked into later,” Mr Meena added.

So far, officials have only asked state-affiliated schools to submit fee structures and say that CBSE and ICSE schools will also be sent notices soon. Mr Meena said notices would be sent to Central schools too.

Many CBSE schools in the twin cities don’t display their fee structures despite directives from the CBSE.