Fee regularisation: Parents to file PIL

Hyderabad: Parents associations of various schools in the city came together and decided to file three public interest litigations (PILs) in the High Court seeking implementation of GO 91 in toto to regulate fees and other charges in private schools.

The GO 91 was issued by YSR’s government in 2009 regulating fee structure in private schools following intense agitations by parents’ associations then.

However, the GO remained only on the paper now despite High Court’s ruling earlier that the state government has the powers to regulate fees in private schools. Parents are irked at some corporate schools asking them to purchase Tablet for Rs 14,000 from the school itself even for pre-primary kids from Class III though they are available in the market for less than Rs 9,000.

Parents under the banner of Hyderabad Schools Parents’ Association met here on Monday to decide the future course of action. “We took up the issue with education minister and commissioner of school education several times but there has been no response from them. We are left with no choice but to take legal course of action,” said N. Subramanyam, secretary, HSPA.

Parents said though they never objected to the 10 per cent fee hike year-on-year, schools were resorting to indiscriminate fee hikes ranging from 30 per cent to 50 per cent.

Parents complained that a corporate school group has been forcing them to buy Tablet from the school for Rs14,000 even for primary school kids from Class III.

Though Tablets are available at lower rates, schools say their tablets have a special software. “Can’t that software be bought from the market.” asked a mother.