After state education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the government’s plans of regulating the fees of private educational institutions, owners and principals of private schools feel that the proposed legislation will have an adverse impact on the overall education scenario of the state.
Some private players mentioned that such a step can prove beneficial only in some cases where the schools which charge exorbitant fee is not commensurate with the quality of education and the type of infrastructure they are offer.
“Such schools do not even pay adequate salary to the teachers and charge excess money under various heads such as bus charges and monthly fee,” said chairman of Royal Global School Ashok Pansari.
He further added that on the other hand, there are many such schools in the city and the state which offer quality education and world-class infrastructure.
“The government has not been able to create world-class infrastructure as far as senior secondary school level is concerned which is from class 8 to 12, most of the government schools are of ordinary infrastructure though they pay good salary to their teachers but the quality of education they impart in government schools is an open secret,” he told G Plus.
While presenting the state budget on March 12, education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma mentioned that they keep hearing about the “high-handed attitude of private institutions about charging exorbitant fees and poor payment structure for their structures.”
He added that the government will bring out an appropriate legislation which will be aimed at curbing the practise of private players about their charging exorbitant fees and rapid commercialization of the education sector.
Many private school owners expressed that the poor quality of education in government schools gave rise to private players setting up world-class schools in the city.
Pansari said, “If any legislature has an impact directly or indirectly restricting the fees of private schools, it will have an adverse impact on the future of such institutions and ultimately the state will suffer.”
He added, “When Narayan Murty came to Assam around 10 years ago, he said that he will not bring Infosys to Assam until we have quality schools, good air connectivity and five-star hotels.”
Further, founder of Maria’s Public School, Nellie Ahmed Tanwee mentioned that private schools increase their fee to provide better quality of education and other facilities to the students.
“Without fee upgradation, the schools tend to stagnate. The teachers will not be motivated to perform better and the students will also be demotivated and this could lead to more dropout rates,” said Nellie Ahmed.
Sources in education department said that the regulatory board will be formed soon but he private schools worry that the legislation will impact the growth of the schools if the fees structure is directly regulated by the government.
Another principal of a city-based school said on the condition of anonymity, “The government instead of regulating the fees of private schools should focus on improving the infrastructure of government schools so that more parents are motivated to enrol their children in government schools.”