Schools should charge annual fees on pro-rata basis, say officials

SRINAGAR — Ahead of the reopening of schools in Kashmir division, the authorities on Saturday said that the private schools of Jammu and Kashmir shall charge an annual fee only on a pro-rata basis that too after the re-opening of schools.

A top official told news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), “The private schools in Jammu and Kashmir can only charge the annual fee on a pro-rata basis.”

He said, “The annual fee can only be charged after the reopening of schools.”

“Last year, we received dozens of complaints filed by the parents wherein they alleged that the management of private schools was compelling them to pay the annual charges in one go,” he said.

He said that charging the annual fees in one go is a violation of directives of the Government Fee Fixation Committee (GFFC).

Pertinently, the GFFC Chairperson Justice (Retd) Muzaffar Hussain Attar earlier in an order has said, “In respect of charging and collection of annual fee, which means that only after the schools reopen annual fee can be charged on pro-rata basis on the basis of the orders passed by the committee.”

He said that the decision in this regard was issued last year followed by another order issued on Saturday on the basis of the complaint filed by the Parents Association of Private Schools of Kashmir (PAPSK).

“PAPSK has submitted a complaint wherein they have stated that since the FFRC is continuously regulating the fee structure of schools, the school authorities are misleading the parents by saying that the FFRC has fixed their annual fee, which means that school managements have been allowed to charge an annual fee for the previous academic session and in some cases for the next session,” reads the notification issued by the committee in November 2021.