Karnataka High Court Decision On Private School Fees 2021 Pdf Download __EXCLUSIVE_

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a judgment of the Karnataka High Court which struck down certain provisions of the Karnataka Education Act 1983 in relation to the powers to regulate the fees and appointments of private unaided schools.A three-judge bench comprising Justices BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and SV Bhatti passed the interim order while issuing notice on a special leave petition filed...

Karnataka High Court Decision On Private School Fees 2021 Pdf Download

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The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Karnataka High Court's December 1, 2022 judgement that had quashed some of the provisions of the Karnataka Education Act 1983, which granted power to the state government to regulate the fees and appointments of private unaided schools.

The high court case was filed by the Karnataka Unaided Management of Schools Association (KUSMA) seeking to strike down certain provisions in the act related to setting fees by schools as well as recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff.

"Education is a fundamental right. But governments have failed to provide the facilities in government schools which are turning the poor towards private schools," the court said. This was indirectly helping private schools, it said.

"Because of the lack of basic facilities, the government schools are closed. On the other hand, as there is no other option, parents even when they are financially not well or sound are left with no choice but to admit their wards to the alternate private schools. The learned counsel is also justified in submitting that such a situation frustrates the object of making primary education a fundamental right as ensured in the Constitution of India," the court recorded in its order.

Bengaluru: The school fee structure hike haunts parents as the academic year 2022-23 is about to begin. For two years, the students were mostly engaged in online classes due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and Suresh Kumar, the former minister for primary and secondary education, had announced that private schools could collect only 85% of the tuition fees during the academic year 2021-22 keeping in view the adverse economic impact of the pandemic on households across the State. The Karnataka High Court, too, had ordered private schools to raise the rebate being offered by them from 30 to 50 percent.

"Most of the parents shifted their children from private to government schools during the year 2021 as they could not bear the burden of school fees. Admissions for kindergarten, Prep I and Prep II, go up to Rs. 1,50,000 in certain schools. Although they do not have anything related to the practical part of the subjects, they expect the parents to pay the price just for the sake of a few colourful toys, a vibrant classroom, and a playground. It's extremely difficult for a common man who depends on daily wagesto pay even Rs. 30,000," says Roopa G.K, a teacher, and parent of a year-old.

The admissions in private schools have drastically reduced this year and hence, the per child expenditure has been increased. "Hikes in school fees is inevitable. Several schools have increased the fees by 10-15% as they will have to give a raise to the teaching staff and pay the taxes. The admissions have also dropped by almost 35-40 percent this year, which is directly proportional to the hike in school fees. This is due to various reasons such as, economic factors, reduction in family shifting, fall in the number of people migrating from other states, and so on.The government has raised the price of the textbooks by 22-25%, electricity and fuel prices have also surged up. If there has been an irrational hike which is more than 15%, they have all the rights to file a complaint," says D. Shashikumar, General Secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS).

Amidst all this, educational institutions continue to charge exorbitant school fees without any relaxation. In fact, some schools went on to hike their fees, putting parents across the country in a tough spot. Inevitably, courts in India saw a surge in litigation on the issue of payment of school fees.

Last year, the Gujarat government released a circular completely barring collection of tuition fees during COVID-19. The Gujarat High Court quashed this circular and ordered the State government to consult with unaided private school representatives to arrive at an amicable solution.

Additionally, the Court ordered the setting up of a Committee to address grievances and examine the school accounts and the fees charged in each private unaided school. In response to this order, an association of 145 schools filed a plea before the Supreme Court, which stayed the setting up of the Committee.

In similar vein, two circulars were issued by the Rajasthan government, one restricting private schools from collecting fees for 3 months and another extending the duration of the first circular until further orders. As an interim measure, the Rajasthan High Court ordered 70% of tuition fees to be paid, but later stayed this order and directed that no coercive action must be taken against students facing difficulty in paying fees.

In May 2021, the apex court allowed private schools in Rajasthan to collect 85% of the fees for 2020-21. The 15% deduction was granted in view of the unused facilities by students in 2020-21. It was directed that students have to pay the fees by August 5, 2021.

The Maharashtra government came up with a regulation on May 8, 2020 directing schools to not hike the fees during the academic year 2020-21 on account of the pandemic. After the same came under challenge, the Bombay High Court imposed a stay on the directive in June 2020 by questioning the jurisdiction of the government to interfere in regulation of school fees of private unaided schools.

The subject of 'Education' falls under the Concurrent List under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. This means that both the State and the Centre have the authority to regulate matters that fall within the ambit of education. In view of fee hikes by several private unaided schools, it is germane to question whether schools can arbitrarily hike their fees and what parents of school going children can do in this regard.

This must then be displayed on the notice board and school website in English, Marathi and the respective medium of the school. In case of indecisiveness on fixing of school fees, the matter must be referred to the DFRC. Until a decision is reached, the management must collect the fee as that of the previous years, plus 15% or the proposed increased fee.

In February 2021, Maharashtra Minister of State for Education Bacchu Kadu called for action to be taken against schools that are hiking fees and violating State regulations on education. Recently, the State education department sought suggestions to amend the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) (Amendment) Act, 2018. In 2017, the the State government had amended the Act, allowing private schools to hike fees by 15 per cent every two years. Since then, the act has been used by private schools to hike school fees exponentially.

This includes ensuring their wards have the requisite electronic devices to , electricity and internet connections to enable them to attend online classes. There is a common plea in the petitions filed by most petitioners before the courts: there should be no collection of fees for facilities that remain unutilized by students during the closure of schools. These may include development fees, annual charges, celebration fee, travel charges, laboratory fees, sports fee, extra curricular fees, etc.

The DFRC, which is a key fee regulating authority across states, has no penal powers and little grievance redressal authority, making it difficult to hold private unaided schools accountable for their arbitrary acts. It is also crucial for an external authority to intermittently overlook the on-ground functioning of the provisions laid out in the State laws. Additionally, just like the Maharashtra government invited suggestions on changes to the law on regulation of school fees, other state governments must follow suit and invite suggestions from affected parents. Only an effective grievance redressal policy coupled with a mechanism to implement the same can enable stakeholders to reap the benefits of the law.

BENGALURU: In a relief to parents fighting against exorbitant fees charged by private schools, the High Court on Tuesday issued several directions to Director of Public Instruction (DPI) and the Deputy Directors of Public Instruction (DDPI) with regard to various aspects on fees being collected by private school managements.

The court has directed DPI and DDPIs to henceforth collect the audit report of private schools by January 15, in order to approve the fee structure by February 15 that would be collected for the next academic year. The court has expressed displeasure against authorities for failing to initiate action against those schools, which were allegedly collecting excess fees against the prescribed norms.

Several parents had approached the court alleging that some private schools were violating Karnataka Education Act 1983 and Karnataka Education Institutions (Regulation of certain fees and donations) Rules, 1999 by collecting excess fees. While partly allowing their plea, the high court has directed the private schools to collect the fees as per the said Act and Rule 10(7) of the 1995 rules within one week.

It further said that if the amount collected by the school is in excess, then the school will have to either refund of adjust the excess amount to the next academic year. The court directed private schools to submit their audit report based on the salary of the faculty, including teaching and non-teaching staff, expenditure and the number of students and submit the school fee structure. It further directed private schools to display such details in its school website to maintain transparency. 2351a5e196