In a big and important decision affecting private schools across Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced some strict new measures on Wednesday to regulate school fees and prevent “arbitrary fee hikes” by private educational institutions and talking about the same while addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, CM said Punjab government will bring a new law that will limit annual fee increases in private schools to a maximum of 5% only and according to the government this limit will apply to all mandatory charges collected by schools.
Orders refund to parents
‘The government has also announced that schools which have increased fees by more than 15 percent during last three years will have to refund excess amount collected from parents.
Punjab government stated that an ordinance on the issue is expected to be issued shortly and a formal bill will be presented during next session of Punjab Assembly.
The Chief Minister claimed that proposed legislation would be among strictest laws in the whole country regarding regulation of private school fees and the decision comes in backdrop of the recent death of an 11th-class student in Amritsar. According to reports the student allegedly faced pressure related to payment of school fees and referring to the incident CM Mann described it as deeply unfortunate and said government would not allow any student or parent to face harassment over fee-related matters.
Addresses other concerns
Chief Minister also announced that private schools will no longer be allowed to force parents to purchase books, uniforms or other school-related items from specific shops or vendors and parents will be free to buy these items from any shop of their choice and similar directions regarding books and uniforms had also been issued by Mann government in 2022.
All complaints related to fee hikes that have been received by District Education Officer (DEO) offices will be examined and if any violations or irregularities are found action will be taken against the concerned schools, says CM Mann.
Rule applies to all Punjab schools
Reportedly the new rules will apply to all schools operating in Punjab including institutions affiliated with national and international education boards and CM Mann stated that schools will be required to maintain greater transparency and accountability and as part of this effort annual audits of schools are also expected to be introduced.
CM Mann said experts from different fields were consulted while preparing the proposed law and tallking further about the same he added that the government intends to amend provisions related to Punjab Regulation of Fees of Unaided Educational Institutions Act and bring a stronger framework to regulate fee structures.
Protecting parents from fee hikes
CM Mann alleged that previous policy changes had allowed schools greater freedom in deciding fee structures and said government now wants to introduce stricter regulation to protect parents from sudden and excessive fee hikes and the announcement has brought relief to many parents who have repeatedly raised concerns about rising education costs in private schools.
The government believes new measures will make school fee structures more transparent and reduce the financial burden on families.
