School fees cannot be hiked without consultation

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad district administration has decided to crack the whip on schools which hike fees without consultation with the parents' committee of the respective schools. District collector Natarajan Gulzar has warned that they would initiate stringent action against school managements who hike their fees without prior notice.Gulzar held a review meeting with school managements on Friday on increasing school fees, installing fire safety measures, SSC results, school categorisation and other issues at the collectorate office.He directed school managements to submit their fee structure list to the district education officer, Susheendhra Rao before June 10. The managements should also get green signal for their fees from the parents' committees before June 20. "If school managements are found collecting more fees than prescribed by the parents' committee, the government would not hesitate to cancel their recognition," he said. A decision was also taken to categorise schools into four categories of A, B, C and D based on basic facilities, infrastructure, percentage of passed candidates in SSC exams and others. "Around 3,500 private schools are functioning without adhering to rules and regulations. Strict action will be initiated against these school managements," said Gulzar. He expressed unhappiness that pass percentage in private schools was only around 74 percent even when nearly 90 percent students study in private schools. He urged private schools to appoint qualified teachers for getting good results. The DEO said they had closed down 16 schools and booked five criminal cases against managements for running schools against rules and regulations.