Guj govt mulls to bring Bill to regulate private school fees

The Gujarat government is planning to table a Bill in the ongoing Budget session of the Assembly, to regulate the fee structures of private schools, a top official said.
The bill is likely to provide for the formation of a committee with powers to regulate the fee structure of private schools in the state, as presently there no mechanism to prevent management of schools from imposing fee hikes at regular intervals.
The bill is expected to be placed for discussion in the Assembly in the last two days of the current session, which would end on March 31, the official said.

Though the state government has not made any official announcement to this effect, senior officials confirmed that such a bill will be tabled.
"Everything about the bill and its provisions will be clear soon. We cannot reveal the details at present," the top official said.
Incidentally, the development came on the day when a BJP MLA wrote a letter to state Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama on the issue of fee regulation.

In his letter, BJP MLA from Vadodara Yogesh Patel, urged the government to tame such private schools in order to save parents from this "open loot".
The MLA alleged that schools are charging fees as per their whims and fancies in the absence clear guidelines.

Patel claimed that schools are going for fee hike by taking advantage of some loopholes in the system, which has made education unaffordable for several children.