Bhubaneswar: The state government on Tuesday claimed that it had kept a strict vigil on the ongoing controversy between parents and the private school managements on the issue of frequent fee hike.

In presence of school and mass education minister Badrinarayan Patra, department secretary P.K. Mohapatra said: "The government has formed a committee consisting of members of private schools and parents. They will look after the issue. The committee has been asked to submit the report on the fee hike issue by June. Once the government gets the report, it will examine the issue."

The officials also said that if any school was reported to have taken excessive fees violating the government-stipulated rules, action would be taken against the authorities and the excess fees would be returned to the concerned parents.

Both of them on Tuesday attended the review meeting held under the chairmanship of chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Since the past two months, heated debates have been going on between the parents of those studying in various private schools and the school management committees over the fee hikes.

Parents of the DAV schools' students had even staged a demonstration on the issue in front of the schools.

On the issue of government schools, Patra said: "There are good teachers in government schools. But, they lack the right kind of aptitude. Now, we are taking steps to ensure that they become more accountable. We will hold them responsible if the students fail to perform well in the examinations."

Elaborating more on the issue, Mohapatra said: "We have developed a special app for this purpose."

Admitting that there was a decline in the learning skills of students, Mohapatra said: "We are aware that sometime a Class V student is unable to give answer to simple questions of Class III standard. Now, we are taking steps to increase the learning habit of students focusing on science, mathematics, English and Odia. The teachers have also been imparted necessary training."