Schools can’t compel parents to buy stationery or uniforms: Noida DM

Noida: Private schools cannot force parents to buy stationery, including books, notebooks, uniforms, shoes or socks, DM Manish Kumar Verma said at a review meeting of the district fee regulatory committee (DFRC) on Friday. The DM warned of strict action if schools were found coaxing parents into purchasing stationery from specific shops or vendors.
The move comes a day after TOI reported that several schools in the city had increased the fee structure for the academic session by charging extra money under heads like transportation and annual events, while keeping the annual tuition fee hike under the prescribed 5% to 10%.
Earlier this week, a group of parents staged a protest outside a Sector 122 school against the fee hike.
On Friday, DFRC told TOI that 144 schools, which had increased their fees for the current session, submitted the revised details before the panel. Three schools— Amar Public School in Sector 37, Paras Public School, Milakh Lachchi and Sant Kishori Vidya Mandir in Sector 158—were found to have collected extra fees, beyond the permissible limit of 5% and the consumer price index, as per the DFRC guidelines.
Under Section 4 (1) of the Uttar Pradesh Self-Financed Independent School (Fee Regulation) Act, 2018, any recognised school can revise its annual fee for its existing students for each category or class or level of the school, equal to the average per capita increase in the monthly salary of the teaching staff of the previous year, but the fee increase will not exceed 5% of the fee charged from the student as per the latest available annual percentage increased consumer price index.
The DM directed the DFRC to issue notices to the three schools and seek their replies within a week. "The schools have also been asked to return the excess fee collected," district school inspector Dharamveer Singh said.
DFRC has prescribed action against 66 schools that did not submit any details of the fee hike this year. A fine of Rs 1 lakh is likely to be imposed on them under the provisions of the relevant sections of the Uttar Pradesh Self-Financed Independent Schools (Fee Regulation) Act, 2018.
"Instructions were given to issue show-cause notices to the school operators and submit an explanation within a week," the DIOS said.
The committee has now sought from schools the details of salary increments for teaching and non-teaching staff for academic sessions 2024-25 and 2025-26 within a week.
"Whatever fee increase is done, it should be uploaded on the website 60 days in advance, and its information should be made available in the DFRC office," officials added.
The DM also said action will be taken, after an inquiry, under Section 3(11) of the Fee Regulation Act if any school changes the uniform within five years.
Seven teams of education department officials have also been constituted at the tehsil level, under a city magistrate, SDM or tehsildar, for inspection to ensure schools don't force parents to buy stationery or uniforms, the DIOS said.