Srinagar, Jan 21: In a latest development, the School Education Department (SED) has constituted a high-level committee to examine the issues of fees charged by the private schools operating across Jammu and Kashmir.
As per the order issued by the Commissioner Secretary SED Ram Niwas Sharma, the committee will be headed by the Secretary JK Board of School Education (BOSE).
The other members of the committee include Additional Secretary SED (member), Joint Director Central SED (Member Secretary) and Administrative Officer of the Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC).
“The committee has been constituted for examining the issues of fees charged by the private schools, and the cost of books, uniforms, shoes provided by the schools to the students,” the SED order reads.
As per the order, the committee shall examine as to whether the fees charged by Private Schools as well as the costs of books, uniforms and shoes provided by these schools to students are based on certain verifiable matrices and have a sound justifiable basis.
“Further, the committee shall also examine and verify the circumstances and legal basis under which the Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee(FFRC) has mandated payment of transportation fees during the winter vacation in the Kashmir Division,” the order reads.
As per the order, the committee has been asked to submit a detailed report in this regard, including justification, statutory backing and past practice to the Administrative Department, within a period of Thirty (30) days.
The committee has been constituted amid the hue and cry created by the parents over the fees charged by the private schools besides the cost of textbooks prescribed by these schools.
Earlier, the parents also opposed the FFRC decision allowing private schools to charge 50 percent of the transport fees by the private schools during vacations.
