VIJAYAWADA: Days after announcing the fee structure for private unaided schools and junior colleges for the academic year 2021-22 to 2023-24, the Andhra Pradesh School Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APSERMC) on Thursday said action would be taken against those managements which demand and collect more fee than the one prescribed by it. A toll-free number has been set up to receive complaints from parents and students against the managements which collect fees in excess to the prescribed one.
APSERMC chairman Justice (retired) R Kantha Rao, who unveiled the toll free number 9150381111 for the parents and students to report their grievances, said the Commission will initiate action against the educational institutions within a week after receiving a complaint from a student/parent. Kantha Rao said education is non-commercial and the private educational institutions which are collecting exorbitant fees from the students will face action.
“Compared to the fee structure of schools and colleges in neighbouring states, several private educational institutions in Andhra Pradesh are charging exorbitant fees from the students without notifying the fee structure. Taking a serious note of the matter, for the first time, the State government has fixed the fee structure for the private unaided schools and junior colleges in the State for 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24,’’ Rao said.
In the last two decades, the government didn’t notify the fee structure in private educational institutions, even though several States are following the practice. In this regard, the government has constituted the APSERMC to restrict the fee in private un-aided schools and junior colleges in the State.
In 2020-21, managements of private unaided schools and junior colleges were asked to reduce 30 per cent of the tuition fees. In other words, they were asked to collect only 70 per cent of the tuition fees collected in the 2019-20 academic year. “Parents have all the rights to question the private educational institutions over exorbitant fees and they can complain to the Commission over the grievances,’’ Kantha Rao asserted.
In the previous academic year, the Commission visited various private educational institutions and fixed the fee structure for the students after taking the opinions of the parents, the Justice said adding that necessary action will be taken against the private educational institutions flouting the norms.
Around 80 per cent of the private educational institutions don’t have any objection to the fee fixed by the Commission. In the previous academic year, the Commission has inspected 360 schools in the state which don’t even have minimum facilities and suggested the education department take action against them. Similarly, the Commission also has inspected 120 colleges and suggested action against them.
“The Commission has all rights to gather the information from the private educational institutions regarding the fee collected from the students, playground facility, salary paid to the faculty and others. In case any educational institution found collecting exorbitant fees from the students, steps will be taken by the Commission to return the extra fee to the parents by collecting the same from the educational institutions,” Rao said. APSERMC vice chairman A Vijaya Sarada Reddy and secretary A Sambasiva Reddy were present.
The fees structure
APSERMC has fixed the fee structure for schools and intermediate colleges in the state for three academic years beginning 2021-22
This is inclusive of tuition, registration, admission, examination, laboratory, sports, computer lab, library and other fees. Transportation and hostel charges were optional but were also capped
Intermediate
Schools in panchayats
Schools in Municipalities
Schools in Municipal corporations
Toll-free number 9150381111 (10 am to 5 pm)