Maharashtra: Dangerous invitation

A government resolution (GR) of the Maharashtra government dated March 4, prohibiting private unaided schools across the state from raising tuition fees without permission from the deputy director of education and/or school Parent-Teacher Associations, has created a major rift between private school managements and parents representative bodies. The managements of private schools are insistent upon raising tuition fees to meet rising costs, while some parent bodies have the asked the state government to freeze tuition fees for the same reason.Following the GR, managements of 16 upscale schools under the banners of the Association of International Schools and Principals Foundation, and the Unaided Schools Forum have filed a joint petition challenging the GR describing it a gross violation of the guarantee under the Constitution to establish and run private schools. According to the petition admitted by the Bombay high court on November 30 last year, under Article 30(1) of the Constitution, as interpreted by a full bench judgement of the Supreme Court in T.M.A. Pai vs. Union of India (2002), every citizen has the right to establish and administer educational institutions of her choice, and the right to administer includes the right to determine tuition fees. The roots of the current conflict in Maharashtras 8,640 private unaided schools, which has pitted parents against managements, can be traced back to April 2009 when a petition was filed by some parents protesting a tuition fee hike by the management of the Balbharti Public School, Kharghar, in suburban Mumbai. Admitting the petition on the ground that the Supreme Courts judgement in the Islamic Academy Case (2003) permits the establishment of expert committees to regulate admissions and tuition fees of private unaided education institutions to ensure that they are merit-based and reasonable, the court ordered the state government to constitute a panel to regulate fee increases. In June, a 21-member committee under retired IAS officer Kumud Bansal, was constituted to frame broad principles according to which private unaided schools should determine their tuition fee structures. In October the committee submitted its report banning capitation fees, but allowing schools the autonomy to structure their own fees, subject to institutional profit not exceeding 15 percent. But the Bansal Committees formula has attracted fierce criticism for being management friendly by parents grouped under the banners of the Mumbai-based Forum for Fairness in Education and the All India Federation of PTAs, who have jointly proposed an alternative tuition fees fixation formula for unaided schools. Citing a judgement of the Supreme Court delivered in Modern School vs. Union of India (2009) in which the court allowed a fee increase of 15 percent to cover the period 1999-2003, Jayant Jain, president of the Forum for Fairness in Education, suggests that annual tuition fees increase should not exceed 4-5 percent per year and should be formulated transparently subject to approval of the state governments education ministry and/or a fees regulation committee appointed by government. Every district or zone should have an expert committee to review tuition fees and admission processes. These committees…