Hyderabad: Urging for a 15 per cent school fee hike annually, along with categorisation of fee structures in unaided private schools into four slabs in the state, the Telangana Recognised Schools Management Association (TRSMA) submitted a representation letter to School Education Department, Telangana.

The representation letter highlighted several significant changes that includes categorisation of fee structures in unaided private schools into four slabs – slab 1 (pre-primary), slab 2 (primary), slab 3 (upper primary) and slab 4 (high school) – in line with GO MS No.1. They also wanted private schools, charging less than Rs 55,000 per annum, be classified as budget private schools and sought exemption from the fee regulation and along with 15 per cent school fee hike annually.

S Madhusudhan, president, TRSMA, said, “The State has around 11,500 private schools. Subjecting all of them to fee regulation may lead to increased bureaucratic corruption and make it difficult for schools to manage day-to-day operations. Further, since there were no existing rules that define procedures for collecting fee from defaulters, so it will better if school department rolls out clear guidelines for handling fee defaulters.”

“Every year, 10 to 20 per cent of students of the budget private schools default on fee. This is making it difficult for schools to sustain operations, so we want the government to come out with rules for collecting the fee from defaulters,” said another member of TRSMA.