Bhagwant Mann’s ‘Action’ on the arbitrariness of private schools in Punjab, now fees will not increase by more than 5%!

Punjab News: Giving great relief to lakhs of parents of the state, the Punjab government has made preparations to curb the arbitrariness of private schools. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has announced that private unaided schools in the state will no longer be able to increase annual fees by more than 5 percent. The government is going to make a new and very strict law in this regard, which will be presented for approval in the upcoming assembly session. The government claims that this new law will be one of the strictest laws in terms of fee regulation in the entire country. This step is expected to provide great relief to those families who are troubled by the huge financial burden imposed by schools every year.

New limit will be applicable on all types of funds

According to the new legal provisions being prepared by the government, this limit of 5 percent will not apply only to the school’s monthly tuition fees. Its scope will also include all types of mandatory fees, annual funds and other hidden expenses charged by schools. It is often seen that instead of increasing tuition fees, school managements collect huge amounts of money in the name of other items. With this new step of the government, every possibility of schools putting additional financial burden on the shoulders of parents in different names will be completely eliminated. Instructions have been given to the Education Department to strictly follow this rule.

Records of last 3 years will be examined

The Chief Minister has made it clear that the government is not only making rules for the future, but is also keeping an eye on the irregularities that happened in the past. A special inquiry will be conducted against those private schools which have increased fees more than the prescribed limit during the last three years. If the investigation reveals that a school has increased the overall fees by more than 15 percent in the last three years, then that school will have to return the entire extra amount collected to the parents. The government has indicated that very strict legal action will be taken against institutions that violate the rules.

Efforts to remove the shortcomings of the existing law

At present, the fee system of private schools in Punjab is governed under the “Punjab Regulation of Fees of Unaided Educational Institutions Act 2016”. Some amendments were made in this law in the year 2019, after which schools were allowed to increase fees beyond the prescribed limit with certain conditions. For this, schools only had to make public the information about their proposed fees on the notice board, website and portal of the education department. The government believes that on a practical level these old rules proved to be completely ineffective and schools kept increasing fees as per their own wish, hence a new regulatory framework is now being created.

District level system for grievance redressal

Even under the current system, parents have the right to raise their voice against the fee increase. Any aggrieved family can lodge their complaint before the district level regulatory body. According to the rules, it is mandatory to start investigation within 15 days of receiving the complaint and give a final decision on it within 60 days. The command of this regulatory committee is in the hands of the District Deputy Commissioner or Additional District Deputy Commissioner and senior officials of the Education Department are included in it. This committee can examine the accounts of the schools and see that the money collected is spent only on education.

Provision for heavy fine for breaking rules

In the new law, the penal provisions for schools violating the rules are being made more stringent. According to the current system, for breaking the rules for the first time, a fine ranging from Rs 30,000 on primary schools to Rs 1 lakh on senior secondary schools can be imposed. If the same mistake is repeated for the second time, the fine amount increases from Rs 60 thousand to Rs 2 lakh. If a school is found violating the rules for the third consecutive time, the education department has the right to completely cancel the recognition or affiliation of that school.

Preparation for financial audit of schools

Along with this, the Punjab government is now seriously considering implementing a new system of complete financial audit of private schools. Under this new proposal, a special committee of chartered accountants can be formed. This committee will closely scrutinize all the financial documents of private schools for the last three to five years. In this, complete information about the total fees earned by schools, salaries paid to teachers and employees, expenditure on school infrastructure and their reserve fund will be examined. This will bring complete transparency in the field of education.

What is the main objective of the government?

The main objective of the government is to stop commercialism in the name of education and protect the interests of the common people. With the implementation of the new law, not only will the process of determining fees become transparent, but the accountability of schools will also be fixed. The government wants to ensure that no student of Punjab or his family is deprived of better education due to financial constraints nor is there any undue pressure on them.

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