Owing to complaints by parents, the fee fixation authorities of Jammu and Kashmir have barred private schools from seeking fees retrospectively from students who are seeking new admissions.
The Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC)of private schools headed by retired justice Sunil Hali issued an order on Tuesday cautioning private schools which are either in the process of completing the admission process or have completed the same.
“Complaints are pouring in from the parents, that some schools are charging fee retrospectively for the months the student has not been on rolls of the school and has not availed any services from the school,” the order said.
“In this regard all the private schools are put under orders not to charge fees retrospectively for the period a student has not been on the rolls of school,” it said.
The Committee for Fixation and Regulation fee of Private School is a statutory body constituted under Section 20 A of Jammu and Kashmir School Education Act 2002 for the purposes of regulating and determining the fee in private schools in the Union territory of J&K.
The schools were asked to charge a fee from the date a student is actually admitted in the school.
The FFRC also warned of strict action in case the schools defy the orders. “ Any violation shall warrant action in accordance with law which may include recommending to the government for derecognition or dis-affiliation of the school,” the order said.
The development comes six days after Kashmir’s director school education, Tasaduq Hussain Mir warned private schools of strict action for charging prohibited capitation charges from students.
In December, 2023, the FFRC had come out against any admission fee charged by private schools saying they would refer the issue to CBI against the errant individual institutions. And if the agency proves the complaints, the schools will face de-recognition.
In April last year, the committee had barred the private schools of the union territory from unilaterally hiking fees as the new academic session started from March-April that year instead of November-December, 2022.
