Chandigarh, July 22 -- Days after the Punjab government promulgated an ordinance for regulating school fees in private schools in the state, the National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA) and Recognised Affiliated Schools Association (RASA), Punjab, on Tuesday strongly opposed the move to cap the annual fee increase of private schools at 5% and require schools to refund any fee collected beyond the prescribed limit during the past three years.

Addressing a press conference here, NISA president Kulbhushan Sharma and RASA chairman Harpal Singh said the decision, if implemented in its present form, could adversely affect the financial sustainability of private schools and, consequently, the overall school education ecosystem in Punjab. "I...