GUWAHATI: With the Assam government putting a cap on the fee structure of private schools to curb exorbitant charging, many schools are mulling using the provision of applying for a probable exemption from the prescribed structure.
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Pankaj Das, President of All Assam Private Schools' Association told G Plus, “Since it is clearly mentioned in the advertisement that institutions intending to charge fees above the prescribed fee have to apply for fee fixation, the same will be done accordingly by all institutions who wish to continue collecting high fees."
Although the education department has provided a set fee structure for all non-government educational institutions, the same order has also provided an option to apply for fee fixation to institutions that wish to charge more than the recommended amount.
As stated by the president of the All Assam Private Schools' Association, the private schools whose fee structures are higher are to make use of this provision.
The Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fees) Act, 2018 was passed by the Assam Legislative Assembly in 2018. The state government has specified categories for fees in different stages of schooling per annum. Schools have been asked to charge not more than Rs 27,000 for pre-primary and class one to class five students and Rs 32,000 for class six to ten students. For students of classes eleven and twelve, the fee has been fixed at Rs 37,000 (Science), Rs 32,000 (Arts), Rs 33,000 (Commerce), and Rs 35,000 for other streams.
The fees are to include all types of charges including admission fees, tuition fees, building or infrastructure development fees, sports/cultural fees, etc. However, this excludes transportation fees.
Moreover, the private schools charging fees lower than the specified structure will be exempted from the process of determination of fee by the Fee Regulatory Committee. However, this set of institutions will have to obtain an exemption certificate from the Fee Regulatory Committee.
Institutions that are charging more than the limits specified in the notification will have to submit a proposal for approval and fixation of fee by the regulatory committee. All the concerned educational institutions are to submit their applications online before 15th January, 2021 for fixation of their fees for the academic year 2021-22 at www.feeregulatoryassam.com.
