The administration in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district has registered 11 FIRs against school officials and shop owners for allegedly hiking fees and textbook prices illegally, a senior official said on Monday.
These schools collected Rs 81.3 crore in unauthorized fees this session, according to District Collector Deepak Saxena. Consequently, the authorities have fined 11 schools a total of Rs 22 lakh.
Superintendent of Police Aditya Pratap Singh reported that 20 individuals have been arrested in connection with the case.
District Collector Saxena explained that actions were taken after finding numerous discrepancies. Some schools raised fees by more than 10 percent without district administration approval, and others by more than 15 percent without the state committee’s permission. These 11 schools failed to adhere to the norms for fee hikes in the current session.
Many schools also failed to share their audit reports, complicating the assessment of their fees and expenditures. In some cases, a portion of collected fees was transferred between branches for unclear purposes.
Saxena emphasized that parents should be allowed to buy textbooks and stationery from any shop, but schools did not submit the required affidavits. Schools also frequently changed books, prescribing more than necessary for various classes.
Evidence suggests a criminal monetary conspiracy between schools and textbook shops, with book margins of 70 to 100 percent not benefiting students. The investigation revealed that decisions to change books were made by unrelated management personnel, adding a Rs 40 crore burden on parents and increasing the weight of school bags. Students were also forced to purchase fake ISBN textbooks.
Source: PTI
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