National 7 (Spotlight Weekly)

SCHOOL FEES
Anarchy In Education

The fee-fixing task force aims at regularizing the fees taken by private schools

By THAKUR AMGAI

Even as the suggestions submitted by a similar committee formed by the government last year are yet to be implemented, the authorities have been deliberating in another task force that has been formed to fix fees for the private schools. The task force, comprised of representatives from student organizations, private schools’ organizations and guardians’ association, is coordinated by Janardan Nepal, the director of the Department of Education (DoE).

Students of a private school : Caught in choas

While the major decisions regarding the fees are to yet to be taken, the task force has agreed upon a few points considered vital for the fixation of school fees. The issues on class-size, workload of teachers, the teacher-student ratio and teacher-staff salaries have been agreed upon. The schools, upon implementation of this agreement, will have to maintain a classroom size of not more than 33 students. Likewise, the workload for teachers will be 5.5 classes per day on average.

The task force has also agreed that teachers and staffs of private schools should be paid and given other facilities commensurate with their counterparts who work in public/community schools. A framework for setting aside 20 percent of the total income for the welfare of teachers has also been worked out.

At present, the schools are fixing their fees on their own without adhering to any rules and regulation. The Giri Commission (the committee formed for suggesting the fees and management reforms in private schools last year) has stated that the fee in institutional schools throughout the country ranges from Rs. 250 to Rs. 1500 per month. However, there are schools in the capital that take fees as high as Rs. 6000 per month.

A whim of reducing the fees had spread terror among the private school owners, some one and a half years ago, when the Maoist affiliated student wing ANNFSU (Revolutionary) closed down schools, demanding up to 25 per cent reduction in their tuition fees.

Last year about the same time, when its mother organization was in dialogue with the government, the ANNFSU-R announced indefinite closure of all private schools, with a 14-point demand - reduction of fees in private schools as a major one. The talks held then between the umbrella organization of the private schools, PABSON (private and boarding schools organization) and the ANNFSU-R had reached an agreement to reduce fees progressively. It was decided to reduce 10 percent in the schools that take Rs 300 to 500 as their monthly tuition fees; 15 percent in schools taking Rs 500 to 1500; 20 percent in schools taking Rs 1500 to 2000; and 25 percent in schools taking more than Rs 2000.

As per the decision of the PABSON, schools reduced the ‘tuition fees’, but ‘adjusted’ it by increasing the headings under which they continued to demand more fee. The schools have been taking fees under too many headings. Some schools are even taking admission fees annually albeit in the name of annual charges.

While computer education, sports, library and laboratory are the minimum facilities to the students as a part of overall education, many schools have taken separate fees under these headings as well. There are schools, which even charge students for identity cards.

Following the seventh amendment to the Education Act, private schools can be run as either a company or a trust. The property of the schools, which are registered as companies, will be privately owned; and, therefore, it is unethical for them to make the students pay for the maintenance and construction of their properties.

The task force is aiming at controlling these kinds of irregularities. Although the schools will have autonomy to a certain extent, they will have to confine themselves within a certain framework. “More than the amount of fee, what is important is whether the fee they take is justified based on the services they provide,” said an educationist.

ANNFSU-R, which is not directly involved in the fee-fixing task force, has also put a demand of waiving all the fees up to secondary level in government schools and a reduction of 25 percent in the existing tuition fees of all private schools.

The private school owners, however, reject the possibility of further reduction of fees.

“As the government has not made a uniform rule, we are suffering,” said Geeta Rana, the founder principal of Galaxy Public School. “We cannot reduce fees by as much as the Revolutionaries [ANNFSU] are saying. After all we need to run the school also,” she added.

The Giri commission had suggested Rs. 684 to Rs.1,365 as the appropriate fees in schools depending upon the teacher student ratio and other physical and educational facilities.