The Education Ministry has paved the way for private schools to charge fees with consent of the local bodies after admission starts.
"Private schools can charge fees only after admission starts. But they must receive permission from the local level," Spokesperson at the ministry Deepak Sharma told Setopati. The Constitution has kept primary education under the local level.
Private schools have been teaching online during the COVID-19 pandemic but they have not been allowed to start admission for new academic session. The government had earlier said that admission can start at the start of September but academic programs have been shut down until mid-September now.
The government had said teaching would start through alternative means from mid-June and private and some government schools had started online classes. The private schools had then urged guardians to pay fees but the ministry had instructed them to not charge fees.
Private and Boarding School's Organization Nepal (PABSON) and National-PABSON (N-PABSON) had opposed that.
Chairman of N-PABSON Ritu Raj Sapkota told Setopati that the government has since amended the guidelines and paved the way for charging fees but it is hassling. He pointed that the government may have allowed charging fees feeling that alternative means of teaching may have to be considered mainstream education for the current academic session due to the pandemic.
"But what is the use of telling you can charge fees? Students should first be admitted."
He claimed that the ministry has created another hassle even now asking to seek permission from the local government. "How is it possible for private schools to seek permission from local government?" he asked.
He argued that there is no meaning of seeking permission from the local level as agreement has already been reached allowing to charge fees that is necessary to meet the minimum expenses of the schools, and not raising fees on that for the last session.
"Why did the government encroach on the rights of the local government by instructing to not charge fees? It was wrong of the federal government to instruct to not charge fees issuing a statement on June 22," he stressed. "The federal government has no authority to speak about fees."
