Majority welcomes new fee structure; school and junior college managements unhappy

Vijayawada: Reactions are mixed over the fixing of school and junior college fee structure by the state government. A majority of the parents welcomed the decision but the private educational institutions opposed it, saying this was unviable.

Parents say the regulation of fees would be helpful to those facing severe financial problems due to the Covid-19 situations. Private educational institutions feel their earnings will be seriously affected.

The YSR Congress government fixed the fee structure for schools and junior colleges through the AP School Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APSERMC) and formulated relevant rules and regulations. Under the new fee structure, a cap of Rs 20,000 was imposed on the tutorials as regards fee collection on coaching for JEE/NEET and other entrance tests. Also, it is stipulated that receipts should be issued every time the fee is paid.

The educational institutions can no more pressurise the students for purchase of books, materials and uniforms from a particular shop. The Uniform for an institution should be continued for at least five years without change. The transportation charges are fixed at Rs 1.2 per km. Also, 50 per cent of the fees collected shall be used for payment of staff salaries, while 15 per cent of fees should be used for maintenance of the institution and 15 per cent earmarked as the management’s contribution towards staff benefits.

Parents and students are happy over the new fee structure as it involves less of a financial strain on them. Parents S Nagur and K Ramani said a majority of the corporate junior colleges and schools charged exorbitant fees -- nearly Rs 1.50 lakh per annum in various forms in the name of tuition fee, hostel charges and coaching fees. The new fee structure gives a lot of relief, there is a reduction in fees -- Rs 64,000 per annum with Rs 20,000 as tuition fee, Rs 20,000 for coaching and Rs 24,000 for transportation. They urged the government to strictly implement the new fee structure.

The Progressive Democratic Students Union state president Ravichandra, AISF state secretary Ranganna and BC-SC-ST Forum state working president Charan Sai welcomed the new fee structure. They said the majority of the corporate and private schools and colleges were robbing money from the public and warned that their organisations would launch protests and agitations if the government failed to implement the new fee structure under pressure from management.

Meanwhile, the managements of private educational institutions said they incurred huge losses due to Covid19 and this new fee structure came as another big blow, which “would force many schools and junior colleges to shut down.” They urged the government to categorize the fee structure according to classifications like Budget, Middle and Corporate educational institutions.

APSERMC chairman Justice Kantha Rao said if a school or junior college felt the fee structure is low and not sustainable, such institutions may submit their proposals to the APSERMC within two weeks of the issue of the notification, for consideration.