Bhubaneswar, Oct. 6: Parents across the state have welcomed the Central Board of Secondary Education's directive for mandatory disclosure of assets of schools and fees charged by them on the board's website.

The CBSE notification aims to bring transparency about the facilities provided by the schools and the fees charged by them.

Every institution and school affiliated by the board has been directed to follow the new orders and upload the information by October 30. Schools have also been asked to update the same on their official website and update it twice a year.

"We'll abide by the directive," said principal of DAV Public School, Chandrashekharpur, K.C. Sathpathy. "The availability of information on the public domain will help parents keep track of the facilities claimed to be available. We can verify it with our wards and question if these are not provided," said Prerna Sahoo, a parent.

"Under the new rule, the fees will be decided according to the facilities available at a school, which is very justified. This will help reign in schools which unnecessarily charge exorbitant fees," said Apeksha Jena, another parent.

Most schools have been increasing their fees by 10 to 15 per cent. However, this is done in a hush-hush manner in the absence of any information being shown on the website.

Basudev Bhatt, joint convenor of the Odisha Abhibabak Mahasangha, which is heading the fight against schools charging exorbitant fees, welcomed the decision.

"Educating a child has become a financial burden for parents. Private schools are tweaking fees according to their own will. Despite several efforts from our end, the state government is yet to put in place any monitoring systems for these schools," said Bhatt.

"Now, we hope that the CBSE will implement its guidelines strictly. It will be hugely beneficial for the parents," said Bhatt.