The issue of steep hikes in the cost of education in private schools are a cause of concern nowadays. Discuss the challenges in regulating these institutions and suggest measures to improve the situation. (200 words)
Refer – The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 7 years
KEY POINTS
· Regulating school fees is one of the most significant legal and political challenge policymakers in India face.
Challenges in regulation
· Autonomy Vs Welfare – The issue of fee regulation finds itself at the intersection of two important ideas.
· One, the constitutionally protected freedoms enjoyed by private schools.
· Two, the need for making quality education affordable and accessible to all.
· The managements of private schools claims that such hikes are reasonable and justified as the costs of maintaining a fully functional private school with quality teaching and world-class infrastructure are quite steep.
· Misrepresenting accounts – Existing legislative efforts of various state models seem to have made an incomplete assessment and are affected by the challenges of weak implementation.
· Evidently, the deeper problems are with financial management and accounting practices by private schools.
· Money was being collected from parents under false heads, while at the same time, teachers were being underpaid, and accounts misrepresented.
· Power of associations – Lack of capacity and constant legal challenges posed by private school associations are also one of the challenging factors that hinder regulation.
· Clarity – The new wave of fee regulation laws in States has the potential to address the problems.
· However, there is still a lack of jurisprudential clarity on what private schools can or cannot do.
· How much “surplus” they can make, or what “commercialisation” actually means are poorly defined.
Way forward
· The solution to make these laws more effective is to address the financial mismanagement and misreporting.
· In Modern School v. Union of India (2004), the Supreme Court recommended accounting standards for private schools.
· Further, measures such as the following could be considered -
a) regular government supervised audits
b) generating capacity in State-level Departments of Education
c) regular inspections
d) stricter sanctions for fraudulent reporting
