Uniform decision: Ghaziabad schools must wait 5 years for dress code changes

Ghaziabad: With complaints from several parents about private schools increasing charges for uniform and stationery, the education department has issued a directive that dress code cannot be changed for five consecutive academic years. Prior approval must be sought from the district fee regulatory committee (DFRC), with proper justification, in case a school wants to do so.
The order issued on April 12 also states that schools cannot compel parents to buy stationery items such as books, notebooks, pens, pencils or uniforms from specific vendors.
The education department also announced plans to conduct a thorough inspection of 160 private schools in the city to scrutinise fee regulations.
"So far, only 10-12 schools have informed the department regarding their fee hike. However, the department formed a team to thoroughly inspect all schools regarding fee regulations. The process will be completed by next week," said district inspector of schools Dharmandra Singh.
Parents claimed that several schools had made it mandatory for students to purchase books and copies from the school's designated vendors, who sell the items at a much higher rate.
"The notebooks are being sold at Rs 100 each, which we get at a cost of Rs 40-50 from outside stores. Moreover, the school management also changes uniform colours every year. This forces parents to buy new ones, even though the old ones are still in good condition. Schools are running a business in the name of education," said a parent of a student of a private school in Vasundhara.
The official order also stated that schools must upload the fee structure details on their official website 60 days prior to the start of the academic session.
Last week, in a review meeting, the Noida DFRC had ordered that strict action will be taken if schools forced parents to purchase uniforms or stationery from specific vendors after receiving similar complaints from parents. It also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on 66 Noida schools, which had failed to provide any prior notice to the fee regulatory committee regarding fee hikes and imposed the same on students.
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. However, the fee increase cannot exceed 5% of the fee charged from the student as per the latest available annual percentage increased consumer price index.