BHUBANESWAR: Though schools have reopened for 2019-20 academic session, the state government is yet to implement the revised fee structure proposed by the Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC) last year to put a check on private schools charging exorbitantly from parents during admission of their children.
With the beginning of the academic session, the admission process has already started in various schools. Parents rued that though the School and Mass Education department had assured to implement the revised fee structure for private schools from this academic session, nothing has been done in this regard.
They alleged that in absence of a strong fee regulatory mechanism, most private schools are charging exorbitant fees during admission.
“Some schools are even charging around Rs 50,000 for admission in Class I,” said co-chairperson of Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangha Prasana Bisoi.
Sources in the Directorate of Secondary Education said the FRC had proposed a revised fee structure last year for the private schools.
As per FRC recommendation, an annual fee of Rs 15,000 was fixed for admission into UKG, Rs 17,000 for Classes I to V, Rs 20,000 for Classes VI to VIII, Rs 22,000 for Classes IX and X besides Rs 25,000 for Classes XI and XII.
The proposal, however, hasn’t been implemented as private schools are strongly opposing the move by stating that the fee structure is too less and needs to be reconsidered.
The Director of Secondary Education couldn’t be contacted for his comments on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Abhibhabak Mahasangha has urged the government to take immediate measures to address the issue to reduce the financial burden on parents.
Nearly 10 lakh students take admission into private schools every year.
Mahasangha chairperson Basudev Bhatt said a signature campaign has been launched to pressurise the Government to implement the revised fee structure for private schools.
The drive to collect signatures from one lakh parents will be carried across Odisha for a week.
The signatures will be later handed over to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seeking his intervention for early implementation of the revised fee structure, he added.