Kerala Govt to set up three-tier system to regulate fees in unaided schools

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has decided to implement a three-tier system for regulating the fees in unaided schools across the state. The state government informed this matter to the Kerala High Court on Monday and submitted a set of recommendations for appointing a fees regulatory committee.

The HC has approved the government's recommendations. A bench headed by Chief Justice Manikumar approved these recommendations, claimed sources.

The government has proposed a three-tier fee regulatory committee to cap the fees in unaided schools including schools affiliated to the  Central Board of Secondary Education and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations.

The three tiers

There will be a fee regulatory committee in each school. If this committee fails to fix the fees, the district fee regulatory committee chaired by the deputy director of education can take a decision. The district-level committee will have 7 members including the labour commissioner.

The third tier is the state-level committee headed by the director of general education. This eight-member committee will monitor all the matters related to fee regulation in the schools. If the schools refuse to follow the fee structure proposed by the district-level committee, the state-level committee can intervene, read the recommendations submitted by the government before the court.

Fees linked to facilities

The government also proposed that fees should be fixed based on the facilities provided by the schools. Necessary action is also recommended to restrict the collection of capitation fees and readmission fees.

Action follows PIL

The government submitted the recommendations in response to the court's directions over a public interest writ petition submitted by a Kochi native VT Jayan. The petitioner requested the court to direct the state government to constitute a statutory body to fix the fee structure of the unaided schools. Following this, the court ordered the government to form a committee. But the association of CBSE schools moved a review petition against this order. The government submitted its recommendations before the court during the hearing of this petition.

If the fee regulatory committee comes into force, it will be a relief for parents who are worried about the huge expenditure on their children's education.