A team comprising officials, including DoE Director Bal Bahadur Karki, and representatives of guardians and student unions visited the Baluwatar-based Meridian School and found that the institution was charging Rs 15,000 annually in the name of development charge and Rs 2,600 a month for extracurricular activities, which is more than its monthly tuition fee.

According to Subash Bhandari, a member of the monitoring team, the school is found to be raising over Rs 12 million in the name of development charge. He said they also found that the school had hiked its tuition fee by more than 33 percent this year flouting government directives.

Earlier, following protests from various student unions, umbrella bodies of private schools had decided not to raise tuition fees for this year and form a technical committee to determine fees scientifically.

Similarly, a meeting between Education Ministry officials and representatives of 13 student unions as well as private schools and guardian associations on April 21 had reached a 10-point deal which included agreements to roll back the increased fee, refund the surplus amount within 15 days and adjust school fee as recommended by the technical panel.

The private schools, however, have not abided by the pact. They have also violated an agreement reached with the Private and Boarding Schools Organisation Nepal and the National Private and Boarding Schools Organisation Nepal to charge just 50 percent of the tuition fee for the month of Baisakh when schools were closed due to the earthquake.

According to DoE Spokesperson Khagendra Nepal, their monitoring will be intensified from Monday forming separate teams and appropriate action will be taken against schools if they are found to be violating any legal provisions or past agreements. He said the monitoring panel will submit its reports to the Central Fee Determination and Monitoring Committee which will decide on the action if needed.