Sixth Pay Commission: Rs 500 fee hike irks Delhi pvt schools

Sixth Pay Commission: Rs 500 fee hike irks Delhi pvt schools

NEW DELHI: Parents could end up having to pay more than the Rs 500 hike in fees for private schools recommended by the Bansal Committee, which submitted its report to the Delhi government on Tuesday. The schools have unanimously said the proposed hike is too little and have threatened to move court if the recommendation is implemented.

Many private schools are demanding that they be allowed to hike fees by 50% to meet the increase of 40%-50% in the salary of teachers as per the Sixth Pay Commission. The schools are also seeking the government's approval to charge Rs 8,000 per student for arrears to teachers, which is far more than the limit of Rs 4,500 set the committee which went into the issue.

"Putting a cap of Rs 500 on the fee hike has no rationale. Thankfully, it is only a recommendation as of now. But if the government ends up considering it, we may even move the court. We cannot implement the provisions of the Sixth Pay Commission unless we hike the school fees enough," said S K Bhattacharya, president, School Action Committee (SAC) ^ a body of all the school organizations in the capital.

The seven-member Bansal Committee was constituted by the city government to recommend a suitable fee hike in private schools which would enable them to bring the salaries of their staff on a par with the Sixth Pay Commission bands. Bhattacharya said SAC had worked out the required fee hike to be 50% as the increase in teachers' salaries, with effect from September 1, 2008, might be to the tune of 70%. The hike in salary will also be applicable to the non-teaching staff in the school.

The Bansal Committee has recommended slabs for different schools, which amounts to less hikes for bigger schools like DPS. Vinay Kumar, principal, DPS, Vasant Kunj said, "We are a big school but that doesn't mean we don't require to hike the fees. We have 200 regular teachers and 4,000 students. The minimum fee hike we require is between Rs 800 and Rs 1000. The arrear per child works out to be Rs 16,000."

Kumar said the government can't have it both ways. "They cannot ask us to not hike the fees suitably while telling us to increase the salary of teachers."

Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road said that her school will be run in a deficit if the fee-hike is capped at Rs 500. "If this hike is approved, we will have to stop all building development programmes, community programmes over the next two years. We may also pay staggered amount to our teachers as arrears over a longer period of time," said Wattal.

Though the government has now appointed a sub-committee to work out the technical aspects of the Bansal Committee report, schools say the move will only waste time. "Arrears are mounting. How will we afford it? The government should take a decision fast," said S L Jain, chairperson, National Progressive Schools' Conference.

Wattal agreed, "Besides arrears, Class XII is soon going to move out and the new nursery class will be coming in. A decision has to be taken this session itself. If the government had to go about the entire matter again by a making a sub-committee now, what good was the Bansal Committee?" Wattal said.

Schools say classifying schools into different categories doesn't seem feasible as this would take a long time to accomplish. Bansal Committee itself had taken two extra months to decide on the recommendations after talking to the representatives of several schools and also parents. "Now the sub-committee will probably have to do a survey or receive a proforma from schools to fix the hike for every school. It will be a lengthy process," said L V Sehgal, principal, Bal Bharti School, Ganga Ram Hospital Marg.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com