More than Rs. 2 crore collected as excess school fees will have to be refunded to parents of St Xavier’s Loyola School in Naranpura after the Government’s Fee Regulatory Committee rejected the school’s appeal against a fee reduction order.
The decision has made it mandatory for the school to return the additional amount collected from parents for the academic year 2024–25.
The case relates to an order passed by the Ahmedabad Zone Fee Regulation Committee, which had directed St. Xavier’s Loyola School to reduce its fees for the year 2024–25. However, the school did not implement the reduced fee structure and continued to collect fees at the old rate from parents. Instead, it challenged the committee’s order before the Fee Revision Committee based in Gandhinagar.
After hearing the matter, the Fee Regulatory Committee rejected the school’s revision application, effectively upholding the Ahmedabad Zone Fee Committee’s decision. As a result, the school will now have to refund more than Rs. 2 crore collected as excess fees from parents. The committee has also directed the school to be prepared to return the amount strictly as per the original order of the Ahmedabad Zone Fee Committee.
According to official records, a total of 1,562 students are enrolled in the private primary section of St. Xavier’s Loyola School from Classes 1 to 8. The school had submitted its fee proposal and audited accounts for the academic years 2024–25, 2025–26 and 2026–27. The total approved expenditure was shown as Rs. 3,36,92,851, translating into a per-student expenditure of Rs. 21,570.
Based on this calculation, the Ahmedabad Zone Fee Committee had initially approved a provisional fee of Rs. 22,500 for 2024–25. This was significantly lower than the annual fee of Rs. 39,359 charged in 2023–24 and the ₹39,360 demanded by the school for 2024–25.
The fee committee had also fixed provisional fees of Rs. 23,500 for 2025–26 and Rs. 24,000 for 2026–27. Objecting to this, the school filed a formal objection in December 2024, following which a hearing was conducted on February 7, 2025. After the hearing, the committee issued a final order approving fees of Rs. 26,250 for 2024–25, Rs. 27,500 for 2025–26 and Rs. 29,250 for 2026–27.
Despite this, the school continued to collect the full old fee for the entire 2024–25 academic year. In view of this violation, the fee committee had earlier secured a fixed deposit of Rs. 2 crore from the school as the amount collected in excess.
Now, with the Fee Revision Committee dismissing the school’s appeal, the refund of the excess amount to parents has become compulsory. It may be noted that following an order from the District Education Officer in the current academic year, the school reduced its fees from the second semester onwards and has since been collecting fees as per the revised structure.
Also Read: Gujarat Govt Confirms Private Schools Can Charge Admission, Term Fees https://www.vibesofindia.com/gujarat-govt-confirms-private-schools-can-charge-admission-term-fees/
