Private school under fire for charging steep fee

HYDERABAD: It seems that even after repeated warnings from district educational officials, some private schools are still charging exorbitant fees for admission. However, officials have now decided to crack the whip after receiving complaints about the International Educational Academy located at Shaikpet, allegedly collecting lakhs of rupees for admission of a class V student. Venkateswarlu, deputy district educational officer told Express that after they received complaints from teachers and parents’ associations over excessive fees charged by the international school, a special team visited the school and interacted with parents and teachers. “It was found the school management was collecting lakhs of rupees from parents for admissions, violating the fee structure regulatory committee norms and regulations. We have already sent a comprehensive report to the district collector Natarajan Gulzar to take necessary action,” he added.With most schools re-opening for the new academic year, educational officials have asked managements of private and corporate schools to put display boards indicating the fee charged for each class at prominent places in their premises.“A number of schools have failed to comply with the committee’s recommendations in implementing a common fee structure and we are all set to identify such schools. Once we finalise the list of schools which have violated norms, we will send it to the district authority for them to take appropriate action, including cancelling recognition of those schools,’’ the deputy DEO added. He said school managements were asked to install signboards indicating their fee structure after it was approved by the parents’ and teacher associations.On June 18, teachers and parents association representatives Bhaskar Reddy, Ratna Prasad and others met Natarajan Gulzar and lodged complaint about the International Educational Academy collecting excessive fees. Venkateswarlu added they have also identified 13 other schools reportedly collecting exorbitant fees and would take action against them soon.