In a bid to bring transparency into the education system, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked all affiliated schools to make their fee structure and details of facilities offered by them available on its website.
The schools in question have been asked to put up the data on the CBSE website as well as their own by October 31.
The move is aimed at helping parents and students get a better idea of facilities offered by schools. The CBSE directive reads as follows:
...fees charged should be commensurate with the facilities provided by the institution.
The order comes in the wake of several complaints received by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry over arbitrary fee hikes.
Commenting on the advisory, a senior official said:
This is a mandatory disclosure. The circular has been sent to all principals and has to be followed strictly. The information will be uploaded periodically on half-yearly basis.
A similar directive had been issued by the Board in June as well when the schools had been asked to cut down on what the parents of students claimed were exorbitant fees. However, since the notice was only advisory in nature, many schools did not implement the order.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times.)
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