Private schools threaten closure

BANGALORE: Member schools of the Karnataka (Recognised) Unaided Schools Managements Association (KUSMA) on Wednesday resolved to stage a mass closure of schools in the event of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) enforcing the notification related to admission timetable and cap on fee structure. The resolution was taken at an emergency fellowship meeting convened to discuss the notification in the presence of Supreme Court advocate and KUSMA’s legal advisor K V Dhananjay. “We want admissions to go on throughout the year when parents walk in. We want to know if the DPI has clarified rules for admissions of transferred students in this calendar,” questioned joint secretary, KUSMA Sathya Murthy. On January 16, the state DPI issued a notification to schools that prescribes a calendar of events for admissions and cap on fees that can be charged.The en masse closure will also mean that admissions from class one to eight would be suspended for the year 2012-13. Member schools also resolved to move the High Court over the notification that has placed a cap on the fees that schools can charge. Providing a legal perspective to the issue, K V Dhananjay said, “The government cannot regulate as far as fees is concerned. This notification is ‘unconstitutional’. You may charge even Rs 5 lakh, but the government cannot tell you anything as long as you are transparent and the money is being invested back into the school.”G S Sharma, president, KUSMA, said that the notification was an obstacle to the autonomy of private schools guaranteed by the SC in the TMA Pai Foundation vs State of Karnataka case.”