Education Is Service NOT Business

Education is a service and not a business.  For those who want to earn profits, they  should open a factory or a business establishment. 

Putting a cap on annual fees charged by self-financed schools across Gujarat, the Gujarat state government  passed a crucial legislation in the legislative assembly in the year 2015 under which schools will not be able to charge more than Rs 15,000 for primary section, Rs 25,000 for secondary and Rs 27000 for higher secondary classes per year. 

This law will be applicable to all schools in the state. Under this law, all primary, secondary and higher secondary schools affiliated under CBSE, International Board, ICSE board and state board will be covered, and this law defines the maximum ceiling that schools can charge students .

   For primary section, the maximum fees is 15000, 

   For secondary it is 25000 and 

   For 11th and 12 standard it is 27000… This is the maximum annual fees.

In Delhi, state government took stern action against schools which announce abnormal increase in tuition fee every year. The Delhi High Court also supported Delhi government order in this regard and   directed private schools which have failed to refund the excess fee charged by them despite a government order, to deposit 75 per cent of the principal amount within 14 days to avoid any coercive action.

A committee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, headed by retired Justice Kiran Anand Lall, which was appointed to inquire into the profits made by private Schools in Haryana, had submitted a report on Satluj Public School of Panchkula, Sector 2 and 4, which has stated that these schools are ‘becoming richer at the cost of students (by increasing fee)’.

According to the inquiry report, “The school had also acquired huge fixed assets worth Rs 134.51 lakh in 2012-13, Rs 270.47 lakh in 2013-14, which had no connection with making available better facilities to students studying there.”

When this type of  cap can be fixed on tuition fee in the state of Gujarat or Delhi  or Punjab , why not in other states?  

Why our state government or central government fail to understand even the gravity of court orders passed in one or two states? 

Do they wait public revolution or order from Apex court for controlling exorbitantly higher tuition fee structure prevalent in most of private schools?

The fee should be commensurate with the facilities provided by the institution but there should not be abnormal recovery of tuition fee and abnormal rise in tuition fee every year. 

Delhi government has also regulated tuition fee structure of private schools and this step has been appreciated by and large by all section of the society. 

Delhi government is the first state in this country which has tried to some extent to improve even standard of teaching in government run schools so that mad rush of parents to get admission of their wards in private schools may get reduced slowly and gradually. 

But it is very much painful that in almost all other states private schools are charging exorbitant high amount of tuition fee. They are just looters. 

 You will be surprised to know that even for playgroup children or for nursery classes , annual fee amounting to many thousands and many lac of  rupees are charged to parents. It is to be mentioned here that many Engineering colleges ,Medical colleges  or MBA schools even do not charge this much amount of annual fee. 

There is no control from the government, neither state government nor central government. These schools not only charge abnormally higher fees but also extract money in different other ways over and above tuition fee they charge to students. Every year admission fee amounting to thousands and lacs of rupees are recovered. Donations are being taken beyond imagination. Schools decide which brand of shoes to buy and from which shop. The sale outlets of these brands are set up within the school compound and the parents are forced to buy uniforms, water bags, shoes, school bags, etc. This is not at all a healthy practice. Guardians are forced to pay fee to the tune of lacs of rupees every year for kids , even more than what they need to pay for engineering and medical classes.

Not only they charge exorbitantly high fee, they do not provide even quality education. They do not take care of quality of teaching, discipline of students, health of students and even safety of students admitted in such schools, called as international schools. 

State government and district administration usually remain silent spectators of mismanagement and exploitation of such schools because majority of this high profile part of the society feel elevated in putting their child in such costly schools even though there is no teaching of that level .

If this trend is not checked ,controlled and regulated at this stage , I think students belonging to poor and middle class family will never be in a position to get admitted in such schools. 

To add fuel to fire , the position of government run schools in all states is much more pathetic. IN these schools there may be minimum fee or no fee , but there is no education at all. Teachers are too poor in knowledge and skill to teach in a class. In general , teaching in such government schools is dismal . Classes are not held regularly. Teachers do not attend schools for days and months. Result of students of these schools is far far poor compared to private schools where marks are distributed in free looking into the status of student. 

Not to speak of primary and middle class schools, even position of various engineering colleges , medical colleges and MBA colleges is also very much pathetic. 

All this is possible only because state government do not take care of schools and colleges which come under their jurisdiction . They do not have any control on private schools. As a result of which quality of education has faced huge erosion during last two three decades. 

Poor students cannot afford taking admission in good schools due to heavy rush and heavy use of money and high profile approaches. On the other hand rich students do not give value to study and get trapped in bad habits. Consequence of such indifference of government , our country will face scarcity of talented youth in near future.  Sharp erosion in cultural and moral values cannot be ruled out. Coming generation will curse governments.

Children are killed in the premises of school and none is punished. Latest killing of Praduman, a class two boy killed in the campus of Ryan International School is example to expose poor standard of private schools.

Police make some innocent as scapegoat and put them in jail without even serving a chargesheet. During last five years, many children have lost their life during their childhood.

 Not only this, bad habits like drugs, drinks , sexual assault like criminal activities are reportedly taking place in many schools, colleges imparting higher education and specially engineering and medical colleges.

In brief, promoters of private schools and colleges are looting guardians and students in the name of quality education whereas in fact they are injecting bad culture in childhood which is then irrigated and promoted in higher classes. 

I request you to stop exploitation of guardians taking place in such schools and colleges. Result of such schools is however usually very much attractive. Marks are given in the range of 90 to 100 to majority of students even though students do not write and do no possess enough knowledge and skill required for a particular class. 

In my view, there should be a national policy on amount of fee structure from playgroup and nursery classes to BE , MBBS and for higher classes. Not only this, government should make effort that all schools and colleges impart uniform syllabus and follow same course material at all level of classes . There should be one examination all over the country for all classes. Only exception may be on language classes. New slogan should be "One Nation One Education".

Our government may learn lesson from developed country like USA where upto class 12 same course is taught all over USA and that too free of cost. On the contrary , in India, fee varies from zero to lacs of rupees per month for primary classes. For higher classes, fee goes on increasing by leaps and bounds. There is practically no limit, one school exploit the parent as per dynamics of the market. Obviously , it our country education has become a profitable venture whereas in developed country like USA it is a national priority.

Children are father of the nation. If children are not getting proper education and proper culture , our country will have to face the consequences in coming years.

In Gurgaon, Noida, Dwarika , you may find hundreds of schools for kids charging lacs of rupees per year and not imparting quality education. Perhaps Government of Haryana is sleeping in deep slumber and not awakened even by what has happened in adjoining state like Delhi. 

Example: A reputed brand of school (Mother's Pride ) charge Rs.1.40 lac per year in their Dwarika (Delhi) Branch and Rs.2.35 lac in their Gurugram (Haryana) branch for a nursery class student in a year. 

Why so much difference by same school at different place is a big question. 

This is only due to the fact that Delhi government  is consciously regulating tuition fee charged by private schools and also trying to improve quality of teaching in government run schools.