SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Aug 25: The Dhanbad district administration finally set up a private school fee regulation committee as per Jharkhand Education Tribunal ( Amendment ) Act 2017 under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sandip Singh.
The District education officer (DEO) and the district superintendent of education (DSE) have been designated as a secretary while the District transport officer (DTO), a charter accountant nominated by the chairman, two members of the parents association, two principals of private schools, MP, MLA are members of the committee.
As per the Jharkhand Education Tribunal (Amendment) Act 2017, the school fee regulation committee should be in each district of the state as well as in each school for deciding annual fee structure of schools.
After Giridih district, Dhanbad is the second district among 24 in the state that has set up a fee regulation committee for the private schools.
A senior officer of the district administration said that as per Jharkhand Education Tribunal ( Amendment ) Act 2017, no school can increase the annual fees by more than 10%. If any school enhances more than 10% it will have to explain to the district committee the reasons for the hike.
“A school can increase annual fee only after getting the nod of the District Fee Monitoring Committee,” he said.
125 private schools are operating including 66 CBSE and 12 ICSE affiliated in Dhanbad. Some schools have increased annual fee by 40 percent to 60 percent in 2021-22 academic sessions. Jharkhand Abhiwavak Sangh has been protesting the arbitrary fee hike by the private schools.
Jharkhand Abhiwavak Sangh general secretary Manoj Mishra has highly appreciated the formation of the District Private School Fee Regulation Committee and has urged the deputy commissioner to ensure a similar committee at the school level as per Jharkhand Education Tribunal ( Amendment ) Act 2017.
