The private schools in Punjab, indulging in minting money, are all set to face action. Even as the Congress government is working on setting up a regulatory authority for these private educational institutions, the Government has issued instructions to officials concerned to act against them.
The Government has instructed the education department officials to identify such schools that have increased its fees during the previous year.
To begin with, the district education officers in seven districts of Malwa region have been directed to inspect all private schools and identify the violators, including those institutions which have increased their fees by more than prescribed eight percent limit in current fiscal.
Increase of more than 8 per cent in fee was violation of the Punjab Regulation of Fee of Unaided Educational Institution Bill, 2016, said the CEO. Starting from Monday, the officials have been asked to submit the report in this regard in two days to the Circle Education Office (CEO) Faridkot. The districts to be covered include Bathinda, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Muktsar, Moga, Mansa, and Faridkot.
The instructions, by the Faridkot CEO, have been issued to all the DEOs of these districts, both secondary and elementary, to complete the report in the next 48 hours.
“Besides fee hike, the inspecting teams would see whether the schools are asking parents to buy books or uniforms from any particular shop or asking for money from parents to provide the same…This has been a practice in these schools from some years which is putting extra financial burden on the parents other than the fees,” a senior education department official told The Pioneer.
The Government has also directed all private unaided recognized schools in these districts to keep their records and account books ready for inspection.