Nursery admissions row : Private schools likely to hike transport charges

Move to compensate for reserving 25 per cent seats for kids from economically weaker sections

While government guidelines on the nursery admissions issue are expected today or at least by a few more days, parents have more reasons to worry.


Loaded: Parents of general category kids will have to bear the brunt
of the hike. representative pic

There is enough indication that private schools will pass on the burden of subsidising education for children from the economically weaker sections (EWS), as required by the Right to Education (RTE), on to the other kids. For starters some institutions are likely to hike the transportation fees.

"The guidelines are still in the pipeline and no word has come out yet. We had been reserving 15 per cent seats for underprivileged kids till last year. If the guidelines have 25 per cent as the clause, we would ask the government to let us raise the fee structure in certain areas which could be transport and activity charges," said Dr Anand Swaroop, Principal of Modern School, Barakhamba Road.

Nursery school admissions for the new academic session have been in a limbo until now, as the guidelines are still not clear. While most schools have virtually agreed to the quota issue, they also seem to be unanimous on the need for a fee hike to maintain feasibility in case 25 per cent seats are indeed reserved.

"Our fee for nursery admissions ranges around Rs 26,000. The tuition fee per month is around Rs 3,800, which is not much. The transport charges vary according to the distance per km, generally ranging between Rs 500 and Rs 1000.

If 25 per cent seats are to be reserved for children from EWS, we will have to hike the fee in some respect so that it becomes feasible for us. The fee structure for this year has not been approved yet; we would request the Managing Committee for it," said MI Hussain, Principal, Delhi Public School (DPS), Mathura Road.

"It will not be fair to parents in general if they have to bear the brunt of fee hike as well, apart from admission woes. There must be a system in place to keep both sides balanced, the school liabilities as well as the parents' pockets," said Ashok Aggarwal, President, All India Parents Association (AIPA).

"Nothing is clear until now. We will follow the government guidelines as always. We have 15 per cent seats reserved already. We will change that to 25 if the guidelines say so. For keeping it at that level, we will ask the government for an increment in the basic fee structure," said Dr Usha Ram, Principal, Laxman Public School.