Private schools can fix salary, fees: Sibal

Striking a clear note of contradiction both with the Delhi School Education Act 1973 and with the city parents' association’s stand on the issue, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said that the right to fix the salaries of its teaching staff rested solely with the private institution managements and not with the government.

Much to the dismay of parents, he clarified at the 37th annual meet of National Progressive Schools' Conference that the fee structure of private schools cannot be regulated.

However, Sibal went on to add that the implementation of the much-awaited Right to Education Act would level the existing disparity that exists in the pay scale of government and private school teachers.

In the backdrop of RTE Act having already been notified, Sibal stated that the Delhi School Education Act would not be rendered effective after the RTE Act implementation which is proposed on April 1, 2010.

RTE Act has provisions to bring all unaided city private schools under the umbrella of government recognition for enhancing their infrastructure facilities and performance quality. He also said that the RTE bill did not aim at closing down of unrecognized schools.

The minister’s announcement on providing monetary autonomy to private school managements is a vivid demarcation from the provisions of the Delhi School Education Act, 1973. According to this Act, the remuneration of private school teachers cannot be less than their government school counterparts. Through his statement, Sibal has also jeopardised the hope of city parents' associations which have been striving hard for revising the fee structure of private school teachers.

Section 9 of chapter IV of the Delhi School Education Act stipulates that scales of pay and all allowances such as medical facilities, pension, gratuity, provident fund and other prescribed benefits provided to private school teachers shall not be less than what is allowed to the teachers working under corresponding status in those schools run by the appropriate authority.

Sibal further asserted his stand by citing the Supreme Court verdict in the T.M.A. Pai case according to which fees of private schools cannot be regulated. He added that despite such a regulation, a few state governments have enacted contradictory laws.

The minister refuted the allegation that quality of teaching in private schools gets adversely affected as these institutions find it hard to make decent payments to the teachers. He said that all schools were not required to make the minimum basic salary of Rs 22,000 which is mentioned by the Sixth Pay Commission. He added that the private schools should not compromise on the qualification of selected teachers.

Parents are apprehensive that providing a free hand to the private institution managements in deciding the pay scale of its teachers would ultimately lead to a huge fee hike.

The minister’s statement gains special prominence in the backdrop of the hue and cry raised by the parents’ associations back in 2008, when the private managements sought to increase their fee structure to meet with the remuneration revision suggested by the Sixth Pay Commission.

Later, Bansal Committee was also assigned with the task of deciding how much fee increment from the part of private school managements could be allowed.

Sibal also wanted all school authorities to submit precise details regarding their infrastructure, number of students, salaries of teachers etc. Under the malpractices bill that has already been moved, any discrepancy in the provided online information would result in severe legal action against the errant institution.