Kathmandu District Fee Fixation and Monitoring Committee today gave a seven-day ultimatum to Meridian International School in Baluwatar and Daffodil School in Kapan to clarify to the District Education Office (DEO) why they have been charging exorbitant fees and selling stationery on the premises of the school, against rules.

Shankar Pathak, a member of Kathmandu District Guardians Association, Nepal and a member of the monitoring committee said the ultimatum was given as these schools had increased the fee without seeking DEO approval.

Earlier, the committee had decided not to allow schools to increase the fee this year after the Supreme Court’s order against fee hike for three years.

He said, “Meridian School was charging Rs 1,000 for Upper KG kids citing computer fee, and it was also selling stationery items on the school premises, charging Rs 4,500.”

He further added, “The admission and the annual fees that the schools was charging were also too high. However, the infrastructure was not upgraded as per the fee increment.”

Pathak said the situation was no different at Daffodil School. “The school itself admitted that it had increased the monthly fee by 20 per cent due to inflation,” he said.

Demanding strict action against the two schools, he said the school administration had been fleecing guardians.

Suprabhat Bhandari, a member of Central Fee Fixation and Monitoring Committee said they had been urging the government to deploy the central committee to monitor private schools across the country with the same situation prevailing in most urban areas.

source: the himalayan times, 23 april 2013