The All Uttarakhand Parents Association (AUPA) has requested the Governor Dr K K Paul to direct the State Government for creation of a regulatory authority for the private schools of the State.
In a letter directed to the governor, the AUPA has said that the people of the State are being coerced by the private school owners and constitution of a regulatory commission is need of the hour.
In the memorandum, the association has alleged that most of the private schools increase fees every year but under the rules they are allowed 10 per cent fees increase every three years.
The President of the association Neeraj Singhal said that these schools have no Parent Teachers Associations (PTA) and in those they are, they are for name sake only.
The association has also claimed that the most of the private schools are also not following the norms of recommending only the books of National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) as mandated by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and are asking the students to purchase the books of private publishers which are costly and are inferior in quality than the books of NCERT.
The AUPA further alleges that private school put pressure on the parents to deposit money every year in the name of building fees, Re admission fee, development fees, annual fees, Principal birthday fees, environment fees, Gymnasium charge and many other names which should be stopped.
Singhal said that the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat had declared that a regulatory body would be constituted for the private schools but it appears that he has wilted under the pressure of private school operators. Incidentally the association has given a deadline of March 31 to the state government for setting up the regulatory authority, failing which a massive agitation would be launched by it.