Bill regulating pvt school fees passed by Gujarat Assembly

In a relief to lakhs of parents in the state, a bill regulating the fees charged by private schools was passed by the Gujarat Assembly today.
'The Gujarat Self Financed Schools (Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2017' was passed in the Assembly in the absence of opposition Congress members, as they were suspended earlier by the Speaker Ramanlal Vora for creating a ruckus.
The bill empowers the state government to constitute four Fee Regulatory Committees for four zones, "for the purpose of determination of fee for admission to any standard or course of study in self financed schools".
The fee structure proposed in the bill for primary, secondary and higher secondary school is Rs 15,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 27,000 per year, respectively.

Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama stated that if any school wants to charge more than the specified fee, it will have to approach the Fee Regulatory Committee of the respective zone.
There would be four zones: north zone, central zone, Saurashtra zone and south zone.

The schools which have already collected fees for the academic year 2017-18 would offset the excess fee taken in the next year, said Chudasama.
"The committee would take into account various parameters before granting or rejecting permission to hike the fees....Schools are not allowed to collect donations or capitation fees (under the bill)," said Chudasama.
The Fee Regulatory Committee will have jurisdiction over all the private schools, from pre-primary to higher secondary, affiliated to Gujarat Board, CBSE or international boards.

The committee will also have the powers to initiate inquiry suo moto against any school found to be charging excess fees.