HYDERABAD: Deputy chief minister (education) Kadiyam Srihari has directed special secretary for education Ranjeev R Acharya to examine the recently-submitted report by Prof Tirupati Rao in the wake of strong objections to several recommendations of the panel.
The Hyderabad School Parents Association has accused the panel of diluting the demands of the parents by formulating a report that favours school managements by allowing them to hike fees by 10 pc every year. Ironically, in the last meeting with HSPA members, Srihari had promised them good news by Sankranti.
“We want to know the rationale behind making this atrocious recommendation and how it will stop fee loot by schools. We are trying to make the government understand that this hike will result in 800 per cent increase in the cost of education by the time a child reaches Class 10,” said Seema Aggarwal, HSPA member.
Though Srihari had not gone through the report, he asked Acharya to examine it in detail, said the parents’ association.
The parents had asked Srihari that if in Gujarat, a comprehensive Act could be implemented after being ratified by the HC within six months, why it did not happen in Telangana even after nearly seven years.
The deputy chief minister passed the buck to the judiciary by saying that the courts were not being supportive of the government in cleaning up the mess. “On one hand, they direct the government to investigate and, on the other, they also issue stay orders,” Srihari said and added that the advocate-general would be requested to review the stay on various petitions.
He also targeted parents for forcing schools to begin admissions despite the government staying the process till the release of academic calendar. HSPA, however, found these to be tactics to deviate from core issue.
Meanwhile, parents have said that they will continue to meet government officials and ministers to build pressure on the government against the recommendations of the panel. “We plan to meet Ranjeev Acharya and also enlist support from all political parties. We are also trying to get a copy of the report. And, yes, bigger protests are in the pipeline,” said Ashish Naredi, HSPA member.
More KGBVs in the offing
TS will have 61 new KGBVs by October 15 this year. In addition, to the existing ones, 34 new administrative blocks will come up in the existing KGBVs. The government has sanctioned `198 crore for this, revealed Srihari at a review meet of KGBVs at Secretariat on Tuesday
Grounds for opposition
By taking the current fee as the base fee, the report has given the schools a clean chit that they don’t indulge in profiteering, defeating the very purpose for which the committee was set up
It has allowed a 10 pc blanket hike annually without schools having to disclose details
Schools need to approach fee regulatory committee only if they want to increase fee beyond 10 pc
This 10 pc will result in fee a school charges at `1 lakh to `1.10 lakh in 2018, `1.21 lakh in 2019 and `1.33 lakh in 2020. When the child reaches Class 10, the fee will be `8.71 lakh
According to HSPA, a child enrolled in a play school, where fee is `67,000, will end up paying ` 5.83 lakh by time she/he finishes school
Report asks schools to submit annual fee and expenditure report on the to-be-launched school education department portal
Failure to do so will attract sou motu action against the school management