No More Commercialisation, Please!

The frequent news that the private boarding schools are going to increase the school fees is giving guardians like me sleepless nights. The recent increase in the government employees’ perks could tempt some principals to go in for increasing fees on the pretext of meeting the school teachers’ fees. Now that government employees have received a hefty pay rise, the teachers are bound to clamour for an increase in their respective slaries, even though they are working for the private sector. But what I would like to point out is that the present fee rate is more than sufficient to double the present perks of the private boarding schools’ teachers. Yet, they are trying to increase the fees. Moreover, they do not hesitate to collect more money under different headings. Recently one of the schools in Lalitpur district compelled me to pay fees consisting Rs. 1,500 under maintenance headings. When the school and all its properties belong to one or two persons or families, how justifiable or reasonable is it to collect maintenance fees from the innocent children? But they do so without any shame. It seems the boarding schools are more interested to mint more money than to impart quality education to the students.

The concerned authorities should be serious in checking the commercialisation of education. No boarding schools should be allowed to increase their fees without the consent of the education authorities.

B. B. Thapa
Janshikhel, Lalitpur