To do away with steep hike in fees in private English-medium schools in the state, the School Education department will form a committee to monitor the fees structure in schools.

To discuss the issue, a meeting was held between School Education Minister Partha De and the representatives of nearly 20 reputed English-medium schools in the state on Friday.

“Although the government does not have the right to interfere in the activities of these schools, but they want to do so. The idea of setting up a special committee to monitor the fees structure confirm it,” said a representative of schools, who was present at the meeting.

The representatives of Don Bosco Park Circus, Sunrise School Liluah, Meghamala Roy Education Center Behala, St Anthony’s School, Our Lady Queen of the Missions, Loyala Institution and many other schools were present at the meeting.

The minister asked the schools to go slow on increasing the fees and consult the guardians before hiking the fees. The department had also sent a fax to various institutions to make the fees hike judicious in consultation with the parents, but the schools paid no heed.

“When we asked the minister why didn’t the department come into action earlier when the salary of government teachers were hiked as per Fifth Pay Commission, the minister expressed his regret and said the government was preoccupied with elections,” said a member of the delegation.

This year, the tuition fees in most of the schools have been raised between 50 to 80 per cent following the state government’s decision to implement the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission.

... contd.