It's fee-fi-fo-fum time for private schools in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: A majority of private schools do not bother to follow the directions given by the Education department on different issues. Following the public outcry against indiscriminate hike in fees  by private schools, the department had issued a circular asking schools in Telangana to display their fee structure on their notice boards without fail.

The school managements were also told to constitute School Management Committees (SMCs) with due representation from parents and communicate the same to the department. Authorities, however, say that these directions have been mostly ignored with only few aided schools having done that. It requires a strong will from higher-ups to make the private schools fall in line, an official said.

Ms Aravinda Jata of the School Fee Regulation JAC said that none of the schools in the twin cities had constituted the management committees in consultation with parents. “We enquired from our members, whose children study in different schools. Neither has the details of the school fees been displayed prominently, nor have the SMCs been formed,” she said.

She added that they would be visiting noted schools in the coming weeks to impress upon the administrations to set up the specified giving representations to parents as well as teachers.

HSPA member Ms Sakina Fathima echoed the same views. “Parents post what’s going on in schools regularly (on WhatsApp). If any school has followed the government’s directions, it surely would have been a discussion topic in our group,” she added.

ABVP, which has held a series of protests on the fee hike issue in Hyderabad and also in the districts, has been highly critical of the attitude of the private schools. “Most private schools do not follow any of the government’s rules and guidelines. What is the problem for the school administration to display details of the fee structure on the notice boards?” ABVP leader Mr K. Raju asked.

Parents pin hopes on HC to make schools fall in line
With the admission process for next academic year set to gain momentum in private schools this month, the Hyderabad School Parents Association (HSPA) is pinning its hopes on a favourable outcome in the High Court case on indiscriminate fee collection in private schools in the state capital.

The counsel for HSPA has written to the High Court Registrar for a priority hearing in this regard. Ms Kalpana Ekbote, who is arguing the case, stated that the last hearing was in June when the court had directed the government to enquire into the fee structure of nearly 160 private schools and submit a report of violations of government rules. The case was filed in February this year, she said.

HSPA executive member Ashish Naredi said that majority of private schools start giving admissions to students in different classes from November. “The excesses of schools should be checked lest managements go back to their old habits of fleecing parents seeking fresh admissions for their children. In this backdrop, the court case holds the key. Despite so much public outcry in the last one year, few private schools are quoting high fees for enrolling freshers,” he said.