Bengaluru: On Friday November 19, the Public Works Department (PWD) has sent a circular to all private aided, and unaided schools and colleges making it mandatory to obtain a Building Structural Stability Certificate by paying 0.5 per cent of the building valuation. This has come as a jolt to already under loss school and college managements.
The certificate is made mandatory for both old and new buildings owned by the schools. Even schools running in a rented premises have been asked to pay the fee. The department has asked the private schools to pay the prescribed fee to the Executive Engineer of the department in every district.
Sources from private schools and colleges now have lamented that this fees prescribed which will run into lakhs will be a huge burden on schools and colleges across the State that are already reeling under problem due to Covid pandemic setback. The school and college managements also expressed their concern that this burden may have to be passed on to parents in the form of hike in the school fees.