Pvt colleges defend capitation fee
S Kumar, principal and dean, MS Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore, says the Centre’s moves have made private colleges look like a bunch of dacoits. “It is important that institutions, which do not indulge in any malpractices, are encouraged through a rating process. The ministry must not make all private institutes look like a bunch of dacoits. People should know who they can and can not trust.”
Anand Sudarshan, chief executive officer of Manipal Education feels the Centre’s moves can bring about some degree of transparency into the system, “It’s an open secret that there are unfair practices in the education sector and regulatory opaqueness encourage such practices. It’s very common across the country.” The introduction of such bills would bring transparency to the education system, he adds.
The ministry has been concerned over some technical and medical institutes and universities resorting to unfair practices. These include charging capitation fee and demanding donations, not issuing receipts for payments made by or on behalf of students, admission to professional programmes of study through non-transparent and questionable processes, low-quality delivery of education services not in keeping with promises made, misleading advertisements in the media with an intention to cheat, unqualified or ineligible teaching faculty, and forcible withholding of certificates and other documents.
So while the need for such regulations is recognized, the sector has concerns over its flip side. With the proposed legislation aiming to curb
