West Bengal CM to meet pvt school authorities May 31 to discuss fee issue

Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will hold a meeting with various private school authorities at the state secretariat Nabanna on May 31. “We have already started to send out invitations to the private schools affiliated to ICSE and CBSE, and even with the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education,” state education minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters on Thursday.

The meeting is likely to be attended by all stakeholders, including the owners of schools, heads of Christian associations who administer the minority schools and even head of principal associations. A top education department official said that Ms Banerjee is likely to speak on the rising grievances among parents regarding exorbitant fees charged in some schools, which has led to protests in the recent past.

“The infrastructural facilities offered by some schools is often not uniform. This is also expected to come up for discussion,” the official added.

Ms Banerjee, when she chaired a meeting with the private hospital authorities at Town Hall a few months back, had said that her government was thinking of developing a policy framework to curb the huge fees and donations demanded by some educational institutes. She also expressed her concern over increasing “business mindedness” of some private institutions.

The school education department is already in the process of preparing a draft questionnaire on fee structures in private scho-ols. Sources in the education department informed that invitations are being sent over phone, through emails and letters.