A delegation of private schools representatives on Monday called upon Ranchi Deputy Commissioner, Chhavi Ranjan and apprised him about the challenges and difficulties faced by private educational institutions during the Corona pandemic period.
The delegation reached the Ranchi DC office after district administration issued a fresh missive to private schools not to make any increase in tuition fees like previous year or incur any additional fees upon parents. The Ranchi DC said that studies of children should not be hampered due to non-payment of fees.
The school principals informed DC that such parents whose jobs have been affected during the Corona period should submit an application to schools listing out their problems, the school management based on the application will provide as much help as possible to students so that their kids' study is not affected.
The private schools delegation also urged the Deputy Commissioner to reconsider the order issued by the district administration in light of the instructions issued by Directorate of Secondary Education regarding school fees last year. The delegation apprised the DC that the order issued by the department was in light of the academic session 2020-21, no such order has been issued by the department for the current session 2021-22.
The Deputy Commissioner said that the order issued by the district administration would not be implemented until a clear instruction is received from the department in this regard. He directed the District Education Officer to get guidance in this regard from the department at the earliest.
Expressing regret over the U-turn taken by the Deputy Commissioner Ranchi, Jharkhand Parents Association president Ajay Rai said that before issuing the order, the Deputy Commissioner should have taken necessary directions from the department. He also said that withdrawing the decision after meeting some school principals will send the wrong message. Also, people will doubt the credentials of the Deputy Commissioner.
Meanwhile, the Ranchi district administration has set up a control room where parents' grievances against private schools will be registered. The control room will start functioning from Monday and initially a register will be maintained of such complaints. Aggrieved parents have to mention about their name, address and nature of complaints against the schools. The Ranchi district administration will provide details of complaint to the probe committee constituted by Ranchi district followed by which action will be taken against such schools.
Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Parents Association has decided to submit the list of students who have been debarred from attending online schools to a probe committee constituted by district administration. JPA president Ajay Rai said that their association will provide tuition details and other fees charged by private schools.