Jammu, May 09: Governor’s administration has issued notices to 19 private schools for charging “exorbitant” fee and forcing parents to purchase non-prescribed books and stationery from selected vendors in Jammu.
The Directorate of School Education Jammu has given three days’ time to reply to the notices issued to the principals of these 19 schools.
“Complaints have been received from the parents regarding charging of exorbitant fee without the approval of competent authority, the parents are being forced to purchase school books (not prescribed by the authority) and stationery items from selective vendors at very high rates,” Director School Education Jammu Anuradha Gupta said in the notice to principals here.
She said that in order to verify the complaints, the directorate had constituted teams, which submitted their reports to it.
The reports revealed that these schools had introduced books other than those prescribed by the competent authority — CBSE/NCERT/JKBOSE (Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education) — up to the middle level, which amounts to violations of the rules governing the permission, recognition and affiliation of these schools, she said.
“You are also violating the orders of the Fee Fixation Committee regarding fee structure and the orders of the High Court as well,” the Director said in the notice.
“Therefore, before proceeding further, you are hereby asked to explain your position within three days, failing which necessary action as warranted under rules shall be initiated against you which includes de-recognition,” she said.
Jammu witnessed protests from parents against various schools for exorbitant fees and forcing parents to purchase books, stationery and uniforms of various types from schools itself or from selective vendors in the city.
Educational institutes such as K C Public School, Heritage School, British International School, Presentation Convent Senior Secondary School, Doon International School, Banyan International School, JK Public School, IAF School are among the 19 schools which got the notice.
