AAP govt's amendments to Education Act no use: BJP

Terming Delhi government's proposed amendments to the Education Act as a "mere eyewash", BJP today said steps being planned by the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation to curb exploitation of parents by schools charging hefty fees are of "no use".
The party demanded that instead of introducing complaint redressal forum for parents through amendments to the Delhi School Education Act, 1973, a law should be brought in which will enable government to regulate fees ending woes of public.
"The draft amendments proposed by government is mere eyewash. The way parents are being looted, exploited, is of serious concern. The government has failed to address the issue over the past four months and now it is trying to do a face-saving act.

"They are proposing amendment to the Act. They claim they are going to curb such fleecing. It (proposed amendments) is not going to stop fleecing; these are of no use," Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta told reporters.
Gupta, who is also the president of a parents' body, Delhi Abhibhavak Sangh, said setting up a complaint redressal forum will mean taking note of only those cases in which parents register grievances, while in the rest cases, even if there is exploitation taking places, schools will go scot-free, making the exercise futile.
"They are not going to regulate fees, but rather are asking parents to complain. For example, if there are 2,000 schools in Delhi and all of them are fleecing parents, the government plans to take action only in those cases in which parents complain. So, the rest of the schools will go scot-free," he explained.

Gupta said that instead of forming such a forum, the government can float a fee regulatory committee under a retired judge of High Court, like the ones in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
"If the government itself decides to regulate fee structure through such committee, there won't be any exploitation of parents. Subsequently, there will be no need to amend the law," he said.