Private schools cannot increase fees, says Sisodia
new delhi: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia while withdrawing the previous permission granted to the Sanskriti School to increase its school fee, said that none of the private schools in the city are allowed to increase their tuition fees in this pandemic year. He said that the Delhi Government was taking the step after receiving "serious complaints from the parents of the Sanskriti School" in Chanakyapuri.
"The school increased its fees by almost 75 percent which is unacceptable. Therefore, after consultation with CM Arvind Kejriwal, we are revoking the order issued for Sanskriti School regarding increasing the fee," he said.
Sisodia went on to explain that the state government had found lapses in the functioning of the Sanskriti School. He said, "Under the system called GAAP, it is necessary to follow a special system of accounting and audit but the Sanskriti School did not follow it. Also, there was no need to increase the fees as the school already had a surplus amount which they gained during 2017-18, due to which their proposal to increase the fee was rejected by the Delhi Government." He further explained that during the same year the government had directed the school to pay the teachers under the Seventh Pay Commission from the surplus amount and not to put this burden on the students by hiking the fee. The school did not comply with the order.
Sisodia said, "A school gets permission for establishment only if it has a three-month salary fix deposit for the staff. Therefore, now the demand to increase the fees is unreasonable because that amount has already been deposited as a fixed deposit since the inception of the school."
The Deputy CM said, "The Anil Dev Singh Committee constituted by the Delhi Government had recommended that fees arbitrarily increased by private schools from 2010 to 2012 should be refunded. Now, the school wants to recover this amount from the students by showing it under the school expenses. Whereas, the previously overcharged amount cannot be allowed to be shown as an expense."
