Hyderabad: Raising concerns over the Telangana private schools and fee regulatory and monitoring commission draft bill, The Telangana Recognized School Managements Association (TRSMA) urged the education department, Telangana, to remove the private schools that are charging below Rs 55,000 as annual fees from the draft bill.

A few private school managements pointed out that the proposed draft could negatively impact school operations. Rule 18 of the bill categorises private schools and sets fee limits based on actual costs. However, past experiences show that fee reimbursements in higher education have not been revised for several years.

Members also raised concerns that school management has no role in determining fees or making financial decisions, which threatens the survival of unaided private schools. They also urged that the education department communicate with stakeholders before finalising the bill and emphasised the need for a balanced fee regulation in unaided private schools.

Highlighting about the draft, Madhusudhan, president, TRSMA, said, “Rule 18 of the bill categorises private schools and sets fee limits based on actual costs. However, past experiences show that fee reimbursements in higher education have not been revised for several years. Similarly, school managements have no role in determining fees or making financial decisions, which threatens the survival of unaided private schools. Many institutions may be forced to shut down if the bill is implemented in its current form.

Along with this, the bill imposes uniform fee regulations without considering differences in infrastructure, quality of education, board affiliations, land norms in agency areas, and additional services offered by private schools.”

Rule 22 links fee revisions solely to the consumer price index (CPI), ignoring actual operational costs such as salaries, technological upgrades, building rents, and maintenance. This could lead to financial strain on schools and increase the risk of corruption, he added.