Board Makes It Mandatory For Managements To Upload Details Of Fees, As Well As Facilities Offered, In The Public Domain By Oct 31
Tightening the noose around affiliated schools, the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) has made it mandatory for school managements to disclose their fee structure in the public domain and submit a report to the board by October 31.
In a circular issued on September 29, the board said that “as a step towards bringing transparency in facilities provided by the schools for information of the board, parents, students and other stakeholders, it has been decided to make the mandatory disclosure of information.“
As per the circular, the information about fees and facilities have to be uploaded on the board’s website. “This will ensure that all the information pertaining to the institution school, which is to be provided by the schools for seeking affiliation with the board, is available in public domain. This will facilitate the board to use the information for various academic and examination activities, besides it will also be helpful to parents and students to know about the facilities available in the schools (sic),“ the circular reads.
The Hyderabad school parents’ association, which is spearheading the fight against the government and school managements over exorbitant school fees, said the move was a shot in the arm for their movement. “We see this move by the CBSE in a positive light as there needs to be some kind of accountability on the fees being charged by schools. Several school managements have often refused to adhere to norms fixed by the state government saying that they can only follow CBSE rules,“ said Ashish Naredi, executive member of the HSPA.
According to sources, the CBSE has constituted a school bye-laws review committee in New Delhi which will review data uploaded by all schools. However, it is uncertain if the review committee will also fix the fee for all CBSE schools, following massive outrage over fees across the country .
The circular, however, has alarmed school managements with many claiming that despite giving good facilities, they have to face the ire of parents, the board and the government. “Parents want state-of-the-art facilities in education for their child. But everything comes for a cost and this is something that parents often fail to understand,“ said a principal of a CBSE school, on condition of anonymity .
Incidentally , a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur last month said that the “state can and should constitute district fee regulatory committee in order to regulate fees in private schools, including those affiliated to CBSE and ICSE boards“. It was hearing a case over fee hike by private schools in Telangana.
Source – Times of India – Hyderabad – 4th Oct 2016
