Accounts of 1,700 Private Schools to be Audited by Delhi Govt

 “This time, the accounts of all private schools will be audited. During our last audit, we had found that the schools were siphoning off funds to the parent trust and in the name of development fee, they were constructing school buildings. Whereas the rule says that the money collected can be used only for the functioning of the school, furniture and equipment. We had received complaints from various quarters, following which this decision was taken,” said Atishi Marlena, advisor to Sisodia, Financial Express reported.Earlier this year, the Aam Aadmi Party government had informed the high court that an enquiry was being conducted as about 600 parents raised the issue of fee hike by private city schools. The government said after the enquiry is completed, a comprehensive report would be provided to parents by its Directorate of Education (DoE) in six weeks. A Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Deepa Sharma disposed of the petition filed by the parents and said that they can approach the court if they were aggrieved by the DoE’s views.

Kejriwal had earlier warned private schools of “strongest action” for allegedly harassing parents by arbitrarily increasing fees to comply with the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission. “All schools must, first of all, explore the possibility of utilising the existing reserves to meet any shortfall in payment of salaries and allowances, as a consequence of increase in the salaries and allowances of employees,” the circular read.

“Schools in Delhi have to comply with the 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations, which ask for a nearly 25 per cent increase in salaries of schoolteachers. The arrears will need to be paid with 7.5 per cent of tuition fees of students, while the new salaries will be funded by the 15 per cent fee hike, with effect from July 1, 2017,” the circular further read.