BENGALURU: In a relief to parents fighting against exorbitant fees charged by private schools, the High Court on Tuesday issued several directions to Director of Public Instruction (DPI) and the Deputy Directors of Public Instruction (DDPI) with regard to various aspects on fees being collected by private school managements.
The court has directed DPI and DDPIs to henceforth collect the audit report of private schools by January 15, in order to approve the fee structure by February 15 that would be collected for the next academic year. The court has expressed displeasure against authorities for failing to initiate action against those schools, which were allegedly collecting excess fees against the prescribed norms.
Several parents had approached the court alleging that some private schools were violating Karnataka Education Act 1983 and Karnataka Education Institutions (Regulation of certain fees and donations) Rules, 1999 by collecting excess fees. While partly allowing their plea, the high court has directed the private schools to collect the fees as per the said Act and Rule 10(7) of the 1995 rules within one week.
It further said that if the amount collected by the school is in excess, then the school will have to either refund of adjust the excess amount to the next academic year. The court directed private schools to submit their audit report based on the salary of the faculty, including teaching and non-teaching staff, expenditure and the number of students and submit the school fee structure. It further directed private schools to display such details in its school website to maintain transparency.
