COMMERCIALISING EDUCATION
The Kathmandu Post
23 April 2017
COMMERCIALISING
EDUCATION
Private
schools are doing business in the name of imparting quality education. All of
them charge varying fees without any basis. This year, they have increased
their school fees by more than 150 percent. In May 23, 2015, the Supreme Court (SC)
prohibited the government and all stakeholders from hiking up their school fees
for another three years. None of the schools seemed to have followed this
instruction, and the Ministry of Education (MoE) does not seem serious about implementing
the SC’s directives. As a result, private schools have been charging extravagant
fees, making the education in the private schools increasingly unaffordable for
the middle-class.
It was encouraging to read a news story at
a time when most private schools have increased their school fees in this new
session (“Student unions want pvt school
fees regulated” April 19, Page 02). My granddaughter is studying in a private
school and recently we received her bill for the first month of the new session.
The fees were much higher than in the previous year. We were given no breakdown
of the fees, or any specific reasons for this increase. This is an example of
the monopoly that private schools have; they should be strictly monitored and
lawfully punished if they are found charging more than the permitted amount of
fees.
The student unions deserve appreciation for
asking the MoE to act according to the SC’s directives. The government does not
a have proper supervision and monitoring system in place. As a result, these
private schools have been pocketing huge amount of money through school fees. Who
is to blame for this unruly activity of the private schools?
Rai Biren
Bangdel
Maharajgunj.
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/printedition/news/2017-04-23/commercialising-education.html
