Student Unions ask DoE to take fee issue seriously

KATHMANDU, Aug 3: With a view to regulating fee structures of private and boarding schools, Department of Education (DoE) has sought suggestions from student unions, guardians and schools.

The DoE's move comes following student unions' protests instigated by the failure of the government to enforce its own order requiring private schools to offer discounts on fees for the duration on which they remained closed following the April 25 earthquake.Bal Bahadur Karki, chief of the Private School Management Division at DoE, stated that the department's fees committee would collect suggestions from concerned parties on fee structures. "We will try to make fee structure scientific based on a common understanding among the stakeholders," stated Karki.

The DoE has sent letters seeking suggestions to the nine student unions affiliated to various political parties as well as to the Guardian Association of Nepal, Private and Boarding School Organization, Nepal (PABSON) and NPABSON.

But the student unions have criticized the DoE for seeking suggestions through email and called for a formal interaction between all concerned. "We will not respond to an initiative that is intended only as a formality," said Ratna Dhakal, general secretary of ANNISU-R. The DoE's deadline for sending suggestions ended on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the student unions have also demanded a roll back of the fee hike introduced by private schools at the beginning of the new academic session.

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