NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has announced that it will crack down on unaided primary schools that are recognized by the corporation if they raise their fees. There are a total of 750 schools that fall under this category. So far, the MCD has not sent out notices to any school.
Standing committee chairman Vijender Gupta promised several steps to keep schools in check. “We will come out with a proforma that schools will fill out and also conduct random checks of the balance sheets of these schools,” Gupta said on Wednesday.
He added that under Section 17(3) of the Delhi School Education Act 1973, which is related to fees and other charges, these MCD-recognized unaided schools are answerable to the corporation.
The section states, “The manager of every recognized school shall, before the commencement of each academic session, file with the director a full statement of the fees to be levied by the school during the ensuing academic session, and except with the prior approval of the director, no such school shall charge during that academic session any fee in excess of the fee specified by its manager in the said statement.”
Vijender Gupta said MCD will come out with a proforma that the schools will have to fill out. It will collect information about fee hikes by schools since the last pay commission. “Once we get school’s response, we will conduct random checks to verify this information. If schools don’t respond to our call, we will audit their accounts,” Gupta added.
Mincing no words in the matter, MCD said those schools that have hiked fees will have to roll it back and refund the money back to the children.
“The 6th Pay Commission will not be allowed to be used as an excuse by schools to hike fees. MCD will conduct a study to understand the full impact of the pay commission implementation in the context of the school’s existing resources,” Gupta said.
Interestingly, for all its current strong resolve to crackdown on fee hikes, MCD itself has admitted that it has no information available on the zone-wise checks conducted on these schools.
In a letter in possession of the MCD, The Shri Ram School in Vasant Vihar, which is recognized by the corporation, has denied having raised its fees in the January to March quarter.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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