PSAJK Asks Schools to Cap Fee Hike at 10%
Abrar Mattoo
SRINAGAR, Feb 15: With Fee Fixation Committee without a chairman and many private schools across Kashmir valley resorting to unchecked fee hikes which have irked the parents, the Private Schools Association Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) has taken suo moto notice of the matter and directed its member schools to cap the fee hike for the new session at a bare maximum of 10%.
The Jammu & Kashmir Committee for Fixation of Fee Structure of the Private Educational Institutions was established in the year 2013. It is the apex body that has been mandated by the Supreme court of India and the High court of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh to oversee the hike in fees in private schools. However, with annual educational sessions being shifted to March, and with Fee Fixation Committee without the chairman, many schools have reportedly increased the fee by 30, 40, and in some cases, by 50 percent. This unchecked and arbitrary hike has irked many parents, especially the parents from the lower rung considering the economic conditions have greatly strained the said class.
“Taking action on the multiple complaints, (PSAJK) today issued directions to all of its member schools to cap any fee hike at a maximum of 10%,” G N War, president of PSAJK said while speaking with Kashmir Despatch.
In a statement issued here today, the PSAJK claimed that the Association was “forced to decide after certain parents alleged that some schools have increased the fee by a substantial amount thus affecting the students.
The statement further read that “the entire situation has arisen due to the non-functioning of the Fee Fixation Committee.
“The Jammu Kashmir Fee Fixation Committee has been without the chairman for the last three months and this has led to utter confusion in every quarter. Some schools have been getting signals to increase the fee and they are doing the same, while others are waiting,” the spokesperson of PSAJK said further.
“In the absence of a clear-cut directive from the FFC or any other government agency, schools feel they have got the green signal to increase fees according to their own norms,” the spokesperson said further.
The Association claimed that it has decided to intervene on the basis of a short-term measure only, because, until the government appoints a new chairman and FFC starts functioning properly, a balance has to be maintained.
“No school can increase the fee by more than 10 percent as of now. We are trying to maintain a balance. Going by the current situation our schools are in dire need of finances. The inflation has broken the back of our schools, but we have to take the finances of the parents into consideration as well. Therefore, taking a middle path, we have capped the hike at 10%, pending the formal orders from the FFC,” the spokesperson added while speaking with Kashmir Despatch.
