Concerns over high fee in pvt schools echo in Parl

Advertisement

“Few private schools force students and their parents to purchase books and uniform from specific stores at very high prices. Moreover, these schools have no capping on fees and other charges,” the report said.

The parliamentary committee urged the CBSE to monitor malpractices that are prevalent in private schools. It also flagged the CBSE’s proposal to conduct Class X Board exams for non-core and non-language subjects multiple times, saying the move had a potential for paper leaks and other irregularities.

In its draft policy released last month, the CBSE had proposed conducting Class X Board exams twice in an academic year. Core subjects such as science, mathematics, social science, Hindi and English would have fixed examination dates in both sessions. Regional and foreign languages would be held in a single sitting, while other subjects would be conducted two to three times based on student preferences.

Amid a row between the Centre and the Tamil Nadu Government, the panel said that withholding funds under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyaan over non-adoption of the flagship PM Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) scheme was “unjustifiable” and recommended that pending funds be released immediately to Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal.

The total pending funds amount to over Rs 1,000 crore for West Bengal, Rs 859.63 crore for Kerala, and Rs 2,152 crore for Tamil Nadu.

The committee observed that the total number of schools run by the state governments and the Centre were 10,29,848 and 2,201, respectively, in 2020-21; which declined to 10,15,504 and 2,156, respectively, in 2023-24.