Show one BJP, Cong ruled state where excess fee charged by private school was refunded: Sisodia

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia on Saturday challenged the BJP and the Congress to show one state ruled by them where excess fee charged by a private school was refunded or such educational institutes were prevented from increasing fee.

In Delhi, Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio, said his government has managed to do this by preventing schools from becoming "profit-making machines" and provided relief to lakhs of parents.

"I challenge them to show even one model in any of their states where the fee of private schools has been refunded or the schools have been prevented from becoming profit-making machines. As per the law, private schools cannot make a profit, schools are supposed to be run by trusts registered under law as trust or societies and they cannot undertake profit-making work," he told reporters.

Sisodia said as per data of the Delhi Education Department, 198 schools refunded as much as Rs.32.10 crore to 78,000 students. "This is also a record in its own right," he asserted.

Saying that all neighbouring states of Delhi are ruled by either the BJP or the Congress, Sisodia alleged that both the parties have failed to regulate fee hikes by private schools in their states.

Broadly, there are two issues associated with education — whether in Delhi or elsewhere, he said.

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"One, government schools are either deteriorating or closing down and governments neither have an understanding nor the intention to work to improve them. Second, parents are frustrated because of rising fee of private schools. As compared to government schools, private schools managed to maintain quality education, but the biggest complaint has been that private schools keep increasing fee arbitrarily," said Sisodia.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader claimed it's been seen that government schools were deliberately shut down so that private schools could prosper.

"It was also seen that where government schools continued to deteriorate, people, whose responsibility was to ensure government schools function properly — politicians, leaders, officers etc, they or their family members themselves opened private schools. Private schools were left unregulated," he said.

The deputy chief minister, however, accepted that many private schools in Delhi were really good to work and "I acknowledge and salute them" for filling the gap.

Sisodia said in Delhi, there are about 1,700 private schools, many of these are neighbourhood schools running at the local level and the fee is directly linked to admission.

From 2017-19, no school was allowed to increase fee, Sisodia said, adding that 309 were not permitted to increase fee in 2019-20.

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