Delhi Directorate of Education Website will have approvals for fee hike uploaded

Vinod Kakumanu
Dec. 4, 2020, 12:01 p.m.

Delhi government has posited to the High Court of the state that all previous orders that enabled private schools to hike fees will be uploaded on the website of the state’s directorate of education. it was also stated that the pertinent approvals will be updated continually.

Another submission that was made in the same context was that the website will also have the fee statements and the pertinent annexures corresponding to the fee hike along with the inspection reports and final order of approvals.

The government submitted to the court that documents, the publication of which, shall contravene the sections of the Right to Information Act, will not be uploaded. Such documents include the file entries and procedural documents related to the sanction order.

The submission of the government was prompted by a PIL filed by an NGO, Justice for All, and request mandating the uploading of the documents related to fee hike of the unaided private schools.

The petitioner has contended that the fee has been hiked by some schools without approvals and parents are aggrieved.

It is to be noted that the submission only relates to those private schools that have been established on concessional government land, hence require approvals from the Directorate for a hike in the fee. There are different regulatory frameworks applicable for school fee increments of the completely independent private schools.

The contention implies that in the absence of an order mandating transparency, certain schools are enabled to defraud parents by hiking fees while pretending to have all necessary approvals.

The information in the public domain about the approved hike and the tuition fee breakup etc., it was argued, will preclude the possibility of irregularities of this kind.