Will provide relief from exorbitant fee charged by private schools for nursery admissions

he Delhi Government’s decision to amend the Delhi School Education Act, 1973, will provide a huge relief to parents burdened by the exorbitant fee charged by private schools for nursery admissions, education experts said.
After the amendment in the Act, any parent who feels a school is charging excess fee for nursery admissions can approach a committee set up by the Directorate of Education to look into fee regulation.
The committee, in turn, will ask the school to explain the fee break-up and what they will be using the amount on. In case the school is found charging excessive fee, it will be asked to refund the excess amount.
“For the first time, the DoE has been given the authority to ask schools for a refund. So far, this power was not given and schools were not being held accountable. The provision of de-recognition of schools and initiation of criminal proceedings against schools in case of failure to refund excess fee will also give more power to the government,” said lawyer activist Khagesh Jha, who is also part of All India Parents Association (AIPA).
“However, the amendment still does not cover some of the points like putting a cap on the fee, which is tricky again. Because a schools can decide to charge exorbitant fee and later, if they are asked to refund the fee, they might take their own sweet time, which might be of no use to the parent,” he added.
The Justice Anil Dev Committee in the Delhi High Court had recently asked many private schools to refund the excessive fee they charged from students in the past. However, none of the schools have even begun the process so far.
However, experts feel the fear of de-recognition and criminal action for not refunding the fee should act as a barrier from schools keeping the fee high.
Talking about the issue, a DoE official said: “Now that the Department has the authority to ask schools to refund excess fee and take action against them in case they still do not comply, we can expect things to improve.”
However, the amendment still does not cover some of the points like putting a cap on the fee... Because a schools can decide to charge exorbitant fee and later, if they are asked to refund the fee, they might take their own sweet time...