Hyderabad Schools Parents Association (HSPA) on Friday rejected Telangana government’s recent move to form a new committee to review the school fee hike.
“If the chief minister is really serious about giving relief to 34 lakh parents of Telangana and about fulfilling TRS party's promise to regulate school fees that it made in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) manifesto, then it should immediately first stay any hike in fees for the academic year 2017-18 till this committee can decide on the new GO,” said N Subhramanyam, president of HSPA.
The association alleged that the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) stopped the notification of the new GO for the formation of District Fee Regulatory Committees (DFRCs) after Independent Schools Management Association (ISMA) met the CM.
“The Chief Minister’s office has sent a letter to the Education Department along with the letter of ISMA asking for another committee to be set up for consultation and review of the entire issue,” says a release issued by the association.
The association also claimed that the issue came to light when they met the special chief secretary (Education) Ranjeev R Acharya on March 16 at the Secretariat.
On September last year, the Supreme Court had directed the governments of the two Telugu states to constitute District Fee Regulatory Committees (DFRCs).
The Court had said that both the state governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh “can and should” constitute committees to regulate exorbitant school fees.
“The chief secretary said that the CM wants to take a fresh look at the report. Our contention is what about all the discussions and deliberations that have happened till now?” Ashish Naradi, coordinator of HSPA told The New Indian Express.