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The Government has increased the penalty on educational institutions for charging capitation fees to Rs 1 crore from the proposed Rs 50 lakh.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the amendments to the ‘Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, 2010' based on the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Human Resource Development.
To discourage the practice of ‘donation' or capitation fees, in Clause 6(3), dealing with prohibition of capitation fee, the word, “offer or pay capitation fee” has been substituted by “offer or seek or solicit capitation fee” and the word “give any donation” has been substituted by “give or solicit donation”.
“Very loosely, this may be interpreted as a clamp down on both giving and taking a donation, compared with only giving a donation,” said a HRD Ministry spokesperson.
ACCOUNTABILITY
The object is to curtail profiteering in some institutions that are, at present, beyond the scope of any regulation, the release said. Institutions have been mandated to disclose information related to the admission process by publication of prospectus. This would bring about public accountability of such institutions and act as a check on unfair practices being adopted vis-a-vis students, it added.
NAME CHANGE
The Cabinet also approved the change in the name of the Bill to Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Higher Educational Institutions Act, 2011. This brings all higher education institutions under the ambit of the Bill, barring agricultural institutions.
The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in June last year and was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee that submitted its recommendations in June this year.
NAVODAYA SCHOOLS
The Cabinet also approved setting up of two Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in Manipur. To be set up at an expenditure of Rs 72 crore during the 12 th and 13 th Plan periods in Ukhrul and Senapati districts, the Vidyalayas will have a capacity for 560 students from classes VI to XII each.
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