HYDERABAD: In a welcome change, some of the private schools in the state capital have decided to collect admission fee of Rs 5000 or below as stipulated by the government. Parents’ relentless fight on the issue for almost a year coupled with the government’s moves to bring in regulation, have led to a change of mind at managements. According to HSPA executive member Aravinda Jata, they have collected admission fee details from parents going for fresh enrolments. Schools like Hyderabad Public School, Chirec Public School, Delhi Public School, Phoenix Greens International, Epistemo Global are not asking for any donations.
A security deposit of Rs 5,000 is being collected in addition to tuition fee and other optional fees like transportation, lunch etc. It may be mentioned here that the state government rules do not permit schools to collect admission fee in excess of Rs 5,000 for new admissions. Parents, on many occasions, have alleged that school managements were fleecing extra money in the range of Rs 10,000 to even Rs 2 lakh for admitting new students.
If this is the situation in some schools, other school managements were collecting excess fees under various heads to fleece parents. “One-time fee, activity fee or development fees are the most common fees that parents are asked to pay at the time of admission, in addition to tuition fees. If these fees are on the higher side then it is nothing but donation,” Ms Jata said,
Brother Show Reddy, principal of St. Marks Boys Town High School in Old City, which has a strength of over 3,700 students, stated that the education department’s regular reminders resulted in educational institutions falling in line when it came to fresh admissions. Admission fee does not go beyond Rs 5,000 in any of the Catholic education institutions within the state, he said.
