Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): The Jabalpur District Administration has taken strict action against as many as 28 private schools for allegedly collecting excess fees from the students on Friday. Investigation revealed that these 28 schools overcharged students by ₹219 crore. Collector Deepak Saxena ordered the schools to refund unfairly charged amount to the students’ parents.
Of these 28 institutes, a penalty of Rs 2lakh was imposed on each of the three schools— St. Joseph’s Convent (Ranjhi), Small Wonder (Baldeobag), and Nachiketa (Vijay Nagar). These three alone were found to have collected ₹33.78 crore in excess fees. They were also ordered to refund the overcharged amount.
According to information, acting on the orders of Collector Deepak Saxena, District Education Officer Ghanshyam Soni and his team conducted a detailed audit. Under the Education Act of 2017, the district committee found that the schools had failed to submit fee audit reports and justify fee hikes exceeding 10%. Required details were neither uploaded on the official portal nor submitted to the district education office.
Three of the 28 schools that have overcharged the maximum are as follows:
1. Small Wonder School: ₹12.02 crore in excess fees collected.
2. St. Joseph’s Convent School: ₹15.91 crore in excess fees collected.
3. Nachiketa School: ₹5.85 crore in excess fees collected.
A fine of ₹2 lakh each has been imposed on these three schools, which must be paid within three days. During the investigation of a total of 28 schools, cases of charging an additional ₹219 crore in fees were uncovered. The district administration has ordered these schools to refund the amount to the students.
Previously, 25 schools were directed to return ₹185 crore in excess fees, with fines totalling ₹32 lakh imposed on 16 schools.
