A week ago, Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia called a press conference to revoke the permission to increase the fees charged by a private school in Delhi in March 2020. It was odd that this school was singled out for such media attention, but let us move on.
It may be relevant to note that even this hike was granted pursuant to a finding by a high court-appointed auditor that the school was in deficit and required additional funds to meet its revenue expenditure. While every organisation budgets for yearly inflation (possibly even government schools), since 2015, no fee hike was permitted and in particular when the school applied for a fee hike in 2017-2018 to implement the mandate of paying the teachers and staff the 7th Pay Commission Pay Scales, the actual permission was granted as late as in September 2019 and that too only to a limited extent.
While the Delhi government’s efforts at upgrading many public schools are commendable, the future of private schools in Delhi is another story altogether. In the garb of controlling schools to which the government has over the past few decades granted land for free or at nominal cost, the Delhi government has been throttling private schools. There are more than 300 schools in the city built on land given by the government. Of these, 266 applied for permission to increase their fee after the 7th Pay Commission scales were to be implemented, but only 59 were granted permission, that too belatedly in 2019 when the permission was sought more than a year before.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia. Photo: PTI
It is a hostile presumption that all private schools are money-churning devices when in fact they offer education of a high standard – like in Scandinavia, Europe and the United States, quality education comes from an excellent public school system run in parallel with private schools that are not discouraged.
In Delhi, the tussle among parents, schools, teachers and the regulator has been an ongoing saga, but the core question concerns the responsibility of the state government to ensure that school teachers are paid as per the 7th Pay Commission.
Section 10 of the Delhi School Education Act mandates that the teachers and staff of an unaided school are paid on par with their counterparts in the government schools, failing which the school can be de-recognised. Unlike government schools, where taxpayers’ money is used to meet Pay Commission increments, many private schools do not have funds available on tap for this purpose. Their only recourse is to increase the fee being levied. It appears, however, that this logic entirely escapes the powers that be, as their constituency objects to the raised fee. Therefore, the school is compelled to pay more but charge the same.
Clear legal framework
Even the legal framework is clear. As reaffirmed by the 11-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court in TMA Pai Foundation (2002), the constitution only permits state governments to interfere in matters of education to ensure minimum standards of education and avert profiteering.
As per the Delhi government’s own economic survey report, the per student expenditure by government schools is about Rs 66,000. This, when their student-teacher ratio stands at 40:1. Without getting into the issues of quality of education, infrastructure or drop-out rates, a private school with a better teacher-student ratio, with 25% EWS students (and therefore non-paying), and other heads of expenses to deliver a certain standard of education will surely need to charge a higher fee. The Delhi government only reimburses around Rs 30,000 towards the EWS students, and not the fee towards the Development fund, sports and other heads which students pay. Now the Delhi high court has directed private schools to provide gadgets to all the EWS children. While the state government has again dipped into the government coffers for this, where do private schools pay from?
Admittedly, rogue institutions exist, but all schools cannot be painted with the same brush. As a parent of the school in question, I must say that this is not one of those reprobates. It does not lend out its facilities to make money like many schools (this is prohibited by law), it does not send away the EWS students after Class VIII (the RTE only applies till the age of 14), and it does not have a rich business house running it to fund any lacuna in funds. The school has a good student-teacher ratio, the teachers have taken to online education seamlessly, EWS students are integrated in all activities including school trips, parallel classes are taken for weaker students and so on.
Understandably, my view may be discounted as biased, but consider two facts: One, only an insider can tell the story correctly as we see it; and two, why would I put forward a view that would increase the fee I have to pay? The teachers are the backbone of our education system, and I would hope that for their sake, better sense prevails with the government.
Haripriya Padmanabhan is an advocate practising in Delhi.