Relief for parents: UP brings law to restrict private schools from raising fees beyond 8%

Providing a huge relief to parents and students in Uttar Pradesh, the state government has approved a bill that aims to check arbitrary fee hikes by private schools, including minority institutions, affiliated to CBSE, ICSE and the UP Board of Secondary Education.

According to reports, the government has approved an Ordinance for Self-Financed Independent Schools (Regulation of Fees) Bill 2018, to tighten noose around schools charging staggering fees. The government has decided to issue an Ordinance as Assembly is not in session.

Here are all the details:


* Ordinance would affect all private schools, including the minority institutions, that have enrolled students in Classes 1 to 12 and charge more than Rs 20,000 per annum as fees. Pre-schools are outside the ambit of the ordinance.

* The new rules will come into force from the academic session 2018-2019.

* Schools can't raise fees arbitrarily and they will have to consult a regulatory committee headed by a divisional commissioner with representatives of parents and school managements to raise any fee.

* Further, they can't hike fees more than 7 to 8 per cent, that too, after taking permission from the committee based on the consumer price index and increase in salaries of staff etc. Schools will also have to display fees on their website 60 days before the start of academic session.

*Schools would be penalized for violation of rules. A fine of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 5 lakh will be levied on schools for their first and second violations, while school will be de-recognition in case it repeats the offence for the third time.

* Govt has also put a cap on admission fee. Now school can't charge admission fees every year or the entire fees in one go. Admission fees would be charged only once at the time of the admission and second time after the student pass out Class X.

*"The aim is that there should not be any capitation fee and that the admission fee is not charged every year and the school uniforms are not changed on annual basis," he said.

*Schools would not be allowed to increase the fees or change the uniform for 5 years and the fees charged by private schools in 2015-2016 would form the basis for implementing the regulations.