Bhubaneswar: Following the January 7 ruling of the Orissa High Court in regard to the waiver of school fees, the State government on Tuesday released a notification and directed all aided and unaided private schools in the state to reduce school fees in view of the Covid-19 pandemic situation.
In a notification released by the School & Mass Education Department of Odisha, it has asked all aided and unaided private schools in the State to comply with the judgment of the Orissa HC and waive the school fees as per the slabs set out in the MoU entered into on September 10 last year.
The waiver may be done under seven slabs- 26 per cent waiver of school fees for annual fees above Rs 1 lakh per annum, 25 per cent for the fee range between Rs 72,001 and Rs 1 lakh per annum, 20 per cent for school fees from Rs 48,001 to Rs 72,000, 15 per cent for school fees from Rs 24,001 to Rs 48,000, 12 per cent for school fees from Rs 12,001 to Rs 24,000 and 7.5 per cent for school fees from Rs 6,001 and Rs 12,000 per annum.
The rate slab as per the MoU is as under:
Besides, no school can take exorbitant food and transport fee from parents.
A committee was formed by the HC to resolve the issue after the State government sought not to interfere in the administrative decisions of private schools by maintaining that they were beyond the purview of government control.
Later, ‘in deference to the HC’s directions, meetings were held with the stake holders by the Principal Secretary to Government, School and Mass Education Department and an MoU was entered into on 10.09.2020 and the said MoU was filed in the Hon’ble High Court of Orissa for kind consideration’.
As per reports, 14 private schools had signed an MoU with the state government on fee waivers.
Comments are closed.