Pune: Permanently aided schools that have recently received govt salary grants must refund a corresponding proportion of the fees collected from students and reduce their future fees accordingly, Ganpat More, the deputy director of education for Pune division, said.
In a letter sent to all schools under the division, which covers Pune, Ahilyanagar, and Solapur, More said the refunds must be proportional to the salary grant received by the institution. For instance, if a school receives a 20% salary grant, it must refund 20% of the fees collected. For a fee of Rs100, the refund would be Rs20, and the fee structure must be reduced by the same amount moving forward.
More said, “Since 2019, various permanently aided schools teaching classes 1 to 12 have received varying degrees of govt grants. These are salary grants for teachers, which means the school management’s operational expenses are reduced because the govt is paying those salaries. There are now schools receiving 80% grants, 60% grants, and so on. Therefore, a school with an 80% grant should reduce its fees by 80%. We have ordered these schools to return money to the students if they have continued to charge the same fees despite the grants being made available.”
Volunteer groups working in the education sector had approached More with complaints that several schools were still charging pre-grant fee rates. “However, we have not received any direct complaints from parents regarding this. The school management committee (SMC) decides the fees in these schools. If we receive formal complaints, we will act against such schools in accordance with the law,” More added.
