Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 22: Despite mounting claims of private school overcharging, the government’s Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC) remains headless three months after the end of its chairman’s term.
The Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC) continues to remain headless at a time when complaints continue to mount against private schools for overcharging parents under one pretext or the other. The FFRC, which is responsible for regulating school fees and ensuring they are reasonable and affordable, has been without a head since the end of the two-year term of Justice (Retd.) Muzaffar Hussain Attar on November 9, 2020.
The situation has prompted concerns among parents and educationists who argue that the absence of a chairman has allowed private schools to continue to charge exorbitant fees, putting an unnecessary financial burden on families. With the FFRC working without a head, no one is there to oversee and regulate school fees, and to ensure that schools are not taking advantage of the headless body.
In recent months, several parents have taken to social media to voice their grievances about the high fees charged by private schools, with many claiming that they are being forced to pay excess amounts. “As the chairman is not present, we are unable to address the numerous complaints we receive regarding the exorbitant fees in some schools. Furthermore, there is ambiguity over annual charges because some schools are continuing to levy them in defiance of court orders. The earliest possible resolution is required for certain matters, and the appointment of a chairman will only allow for the resolution of all the matters,” Asma Goni, convener of the Parents Association of Privately Administered Schools (PAPAS),
She said that private schools are asking parents to make annual fee deposits for the five-month span from November 2022 to March 2023, despite the fee panel’s (FFRC) unequivocal recommendation against doing so after the government revised the academic calendar.
As the government changed the academic calendar, the J&K Committee for Fixation and Regulation of Fees of Private Schools (FFRC) issued an order in November last year directing all schools in the Valley not to charge annual fees from November 2022 to March 2023.
In a recent development, the Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) issued directions to all of its member schools to cap any fee hike at a maximum of 10%.
The move has created further confusion among parents, who are questioning how the PSAJK can issue a cap on fees when it is indirectly allowing for a fee hike. The cap of 10% is higher than the current inflation rate in Jammu and Kashmir, which has led many to question whether it is reasonable or justifiable.
“Until a chairman is chosen, any fee hike will not be approved. He only has the right to make the decision regarding the fee. Parents need not to fear, as there will be no fee hike and no school will be permitted to charge an admission fee,” Showkat Chowdary, Chairman of the private schools coordination committee, told Excelsior.
Alok Kumar, the principal secretary for school education, told Excelsior that the government is currently in the process of naming a new chairman and that all of the issues will be rectified shortly.
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