New Delhi, July 3: A survey has found that 93 per cent parents want annual fees charged by the private schools to be a capped at one month of tution fee.

"Schools adopt various ways to hike the total fees. While the tuition fee may not be hiked, all other fees like annual/admission fee are raised indiscriminately by the schools. Hence, when asked whether this fee, under the head of annual or admission fee, should be limited to one month of tuition fee, 93 per cent of the citizens agreed," the survey by LocalCircles revealed.

For the survey, the LocalCircles community social media platform received over 58,000 responses from over 21,000 parents in 215 districts in the country. 

The survey also focused on the ways to regulate school fee hikes, with the majority of parents (54 per cent of 13,317 votes) feeling that the percentage of hike should be linked to inflation.

One of the biggest arguments given by schools for raising fees is to enhance the quality of education or maintain it but in the polls, parents do not seem to be convinced of this line. 

Almost 77 per cent of 7,205 parents say that capping of fees would not affect the quality of education. 

In the survey, a majority of parents have also suggested that it should be made mandatory for all schools to publish their annual statement of costs on their website.

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Panaji (PTI): A Goa court on Thursday extended by four days the police remand of Ajay Gupta, co-owner of Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub, where a devastating fire on December 6 killed 25 persons.

Gupta was arrested from New Delhi on December 10. A court in Mapusa had remanded him in police custody for seven days at the time.

Gupta was presented before the lower court, which sent him to four-day police custody as his initial remand was expiring, his advocate Rohan Desai told reporters.

"Gupta had complained about back pain. The court ordered his medical examination, after which he was allowed use of a mattress in custody. He was examined by a specialised doctor at Goa Medical College and Hospital near here," the lawyer said.

Twenty-five persons, including 20 staff members and five tourists, were killed in the major blaze at the nightclub at Arpora in North Goa around midnight of December 6.

Gupta had, during the day, filed an bail application.

So far, eight persons have been arrested in connection with the case, including Gupta, and two other owners - Gaurav Luthra and his brother Saurabh - who were deported from Thailand.

Five other staffers of the nightclub arrested in the case are Rajiv Modak (Corporate General Manager), Priyanshu Thakur (Gate Manager), Rajveer Singhania (Bar Manager), Vivek Singh (General Manager) and Bharat Karan Singh Kohli (employee).

A Look Out Circular (LOC) has been issued against Surinder Kumar Khosla, another owner of the nightclub who is a British citizen, police said.