THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Fee of private school and college buses are set to rise as the budget has, after 23 years, increased the tax per seat to be paid by the educational institutions.
The schools and colleges will now have to pay Rs 50 per seat as tax for a 20-seater bus every three months. The tax will be Rs 100 per seat if the seating capacity of the bus exceeds 20. At present, the Motor Vehicles Department levies Rs 500 as tax for a 20-seater bus and Rs 1,000 for vehicles with higher capacity. Buses of government and government-aided schools have been exempted from the tax hike.
The government plans to collect an additional revenue of Rs 6 crore through the move. However, the private educational institutions are likely to pass on the additional burden to parents.“None of the buses operated by the educational institutions are profitable. The tax hike is going to deal another blow,” said V K Jayakumar, the patron of CBSE School Management Association and former state president of Kerala Recognised School Managements’ Association.
He said school authorities were chipping in money from other sources to run the buses as the fares were inadequate to cover the expenses.
However, there are criticisms against the managements for misusing the buses and over-charging students. “There are several issues associated with private school buses. Some of the vehicles of educational institutions are owned by private individuals,” said an officer.