Haryana plans to link school fee hike with price index

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 11

Amid protests by parents against “unprecedented” fee hike by private schools in Haryana, the state Education Department is planning to link the hike to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

While the department is working on a formula, the private schools maintain that they will be forced to shut shop in case it is implemented.

Mahavir Singh, ACS (School Education), said, “At present, schools are free to have their own fee structure. But the rules are being amended. We are exploring the possibility of linking it to the CPI.” No fee hike was allowed last year following the intervention of the court amid the pandemic. Anil Kaushik of the Progressive Private Schools Association said, “Since we suffered heavy losses last year and are unable to meet our expenses, we increased the fee by 15 per cent this year.”

Balancing act

We are mulling 8-10% annual hike or linking it to inflation so that nobody feels the pinch — Kanwar Pal Gujjar, Education Minister

Will challenge move

The government has no business regulating fee in private schools… will take legal recourse — Anil Kaushik, private schools’ associatio

On the said proposal, he said, “The government has no business regulating the fee charged by private schools. We will take legal recourse. Earlier also the government tried to set up a fee regulatory authority, but it was stayed by the court. Moreover, the salaries are not linked to inflation. We give annual increments to our staff.”

According to Kanwar Pal Gujjar, Education Minister of the state, school fee hike must be regulated. “The opinion of the school managements will be considered before taking any decision,” he said.