Education falls under State list. Constitution allows private individuals and organizations to open schools for providing education to the students. The State Education Department has laid down some rules and fixed criterion to grant recognition to private schools. At the same time, the Department has also the scheme of grant-in-aid to private schools. It means that schools fulfilling the conditions laid down by the Education Department are entitled to receive some grant from the State which is meant by way of support to the spread of education. But there are other private schools that do not at all receive any form of grant from the Government and are run on donations made by philanthropists and the fees they charge from the students. There is no hard and fast rule for fixing the amount of fee. It varies from school to school and institution to institution. In addition to monthly tuition fee, many schools charge admission fee, capitation fee and other charges under other heads also.

Besides monthly tuition fee and bus fee, there are other heads under which the students are required to make payments like capitation fee, admission fee, charity etc. This had become an issue for the parents especially for those who had not the financial capacity to pay exorbitant fee in one form or the other.

Fortunately the Supreme Court has come to the rescue of parents and their kids by delivering a landmark judgment in which it has said that imparting of education is a charitable act and the money thus earned by the institutions is to be used only for the improvement of facilities for the students and not for personal gains. This judgment has been hailed by the nation and parents have heaved a sigh of relief.

In this background the Government has constituted the Committee for Fixation of Fee Structure of Private Educational Institutions in the State to regulate the fees structure of private Schools.

There are about 6000 private schools in the State and all of these will have to comply with the guidelines of the Supreme Court and respond to the directive of the Fixation of Fees Structure Committee.

Formation

The Jammu & Kashmir Committee for Fixation of Fee Structure of the Private Educational Institutions was established in the year 2013. Honb’le Mr. Justice (Retd) Bilal Nazki was appointed as its first Chairman. Mr. Justice Nazki resigned in the year 2014 due to which the Committee remained non-functional for a long time. It has now been revived in the year 2015 vide Government Order No: 344 of 2015 dated 21-4-2015. The present Committee comprises of:

Hon’ble Mr. Justice (Retd) Hakim ImtiyazHussain Chairman

Mr. ShaleenKabra, Commissioner/Secretary to Government, School Education Department Member- Secretary

MsKaneez Fatima, Director (Academics), Board of School Education Member

Mr. Showkat Ahmad Peer, Chartered Accountant Member

Functioning

In terms of the judgment and orders passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Jammu &Kashmir theCommittee is empowered to regulate the fees structure of the Private Educational Institutions of the State and consider the cases of enhancement of tuition and other fees being charged by such Schools.

The private schools have been asked to submit the details of the infrastructure of the school and facilities they offer to the students. They have been asked to submit the fee details charged from the students, like amount charged at the stage of admission, fee per month of each class and bus charges. As per the guidelines, the schools have to justify their fee structure as per their infrastructure. They have also been asked to submit the details regarding the qualification of the teachers and salaries that are paid to them. They have been asked to disclose the financial sources, property owned by school and the buses owned or leased by the school.

The Committee has prescribed a proforma on which necessary information is being obtained from the Schools. Where enhancement of fees structure is prayed by the School, such Schools furnish requisite information on such proforma. So far the Committee has received about 310 applications out of which 229 are from Kashmir province and 81 applications from Jammu province by the Schools on the said proforma. All these cases have been examined. Out of these cases have been disposed off so far. Rest of the cases are pending for want of necessary documents from the Schools. All such Schools have been informed about it through website/telephone.

The Committee has examined the prayer of some of the leading Schools of the State like Burn Hall School, Srinagar, Presentation Convent Scholl, Srinagar and Jammu, TyndleBisco School, Srinagar, Mallinson Girls Hr. Secondary School, Delhi Public School, Budgam, St. Joseph’s School, Baramulla etc. and found that in view of the huge income of the Schools, the Schools were not entitled to any hike in their fees structure. This has provided a great relief to the parents of the students studying in these Schools.

Cases re- Sept/Oct, 2014 Fees

Under the orders of the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu & Kashmir, Schools cannot charge fees from the students for the months of September and October, 2014i.e the period when the State was hit by the devastating floods. The Hon’ble High Court has, however, permitted the Schools to approach the Committee for relaxation of this rule and permission to collect fee for the period. In this behalf the Committee has received 140 applications from various Schools. These applications have been processed and necessary information has been collected from the Schools about their functioning during the period. The matter was discussed by the Committee in its meeting dated 16-2-2016 and it was resolved to refer the cases to the fact finding committees to be constituted by the Directors of Education Jammu/Kashmir. The cases have now been referred to these committees and the Committee is awaiting reports of such committees.

Complaints

The Committee is receiving complaints against various Schools regarding unauthorized fees increase and other malpractices. So far about 31 complaints have been received out of these 16 complaints have been received at Jammu and 15 complaints at Srinagar. Swift action has been taken against the Schools named in these complaints. In most of the cases grievances of the complainants have been redressed after taking remedial measures in the matter.

Very recently complaints were received against Delhi Public Schools OF Srinagar, Budgam and Baramulla. It was alleged that the Schools have in violation to the directions of the Hon’ble High Court hiked the fees structure cause undue burden on the students. Action was initiated against these Schools by the Committee with the result that DPS Budgam and Baramulla have withdrawn their decision of fee hike while as DPS Srinagar has stopped any future hike.