Assam to regulate private school fees, penalise violaters

GUWAHATI, April 3, 2018: The Assam government, on Monday proposed, to regulate the fees charged by private schools and revise their fee structures with penalties of up to Rs 10 lakh and withdrawal of registration for violators.

On behalf of the Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary introduced The Assam Non-Government Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2018 in the state Assembly.

In his statement, Sarma said: "As there is pressing demand from various individual guardians of the students and the association for fixation of fees, it has been decided to constitute Fee Regulatory and Fee Revision Committees to fix the maximum fees."

As per the Bill, the government shall constitute one or more Fee Regulatory Committee to determine the fee structure for any standard or course of study in any non-government school imparting education in primary, middle, secondary and higher secondary level and it will be headed by a chairperson.

The chairperson shall be a retired district or sessions judge or an official of all India service or an Indian Police Service and will be nominated by the government. Besides, the committee will have one chartered accountant, civil engineer, one representative from the institute and an academician as members.

The secretary of the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council and Board of Secondary Education will be another member, while the director shall act as a coordinator to the committee, the Bill mentioned.

The committee shall recommend maximum limits of fees to be charged by different categories of non-government educational institutions every year before the beginning of the academic session.

The Bill also said that the government will form a Fee Revision Committee to revise the orders already passed by the Fee Regulatory Committee.

On violations, the Bill said in addition to refund of twice the amount charged from the parents of the students, the institute management shall pay a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh for first contravention and up to Rs 10 lakh for the second.

In case of third and subsequent contraventions, the registration or affiliation or NOC will be cancelled by the concerned authority on the recommendation of the Fee Regulatory Committee.

Source: Outlook