28 April,2017 08:40 AM IST | Mumbai | Silky Sharma
Parents were allegedly told by the principal of Borivli's St Anne's High School, to pay Rs 5,000 pay for the new school building fund. They protested and got the police involved
Pay Rs 5,000 for your child's result - this is what Borivli's St Anne's High School allegedly asked parents to do. A number of them, who had gone to the school on Thursday between 8 am and 10 am to collect the result, said the principal told them that if they wanted the result, they would first have to pay for the new school building fund. Finally, when no amount of reasoning worked, they protested and got the police involved.
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A parent whose child studies in the primary section of the school said, "The school was giving the result to only those who had made the payment. The rest were told to pay if they wanted the result. When no reasoning or argument worked with the school principal, we protested on the premises, and then, approached the Borivli police to help us."
Parents alleged that for the last three years, they have been paying Rs 2,000 for the building repair fund, in addition to an annual school fee of Rs 30,000 and a computer fee of Rs 1,800. They added that they objected to paying for the fund only because the school had hiked it.
"We were told that the repair fund is not mandatory. Yet, we have been paying. When for 2016-17, the school increased the amount, we refused to pay. After that, the school started pressuring us. It's shocking that for the fund, the school tried to blackmail us with our children's results," said another parent.
After the 34-odd protesting parents went to Borivli police station, principal Sister Rosily was summoned, after which she agreed to hand over the results.
A police officer said, "The parents did approach us, but no official complaint was taken as they ideally should have gone to the education inspector. When we called the principal, she agreed to give the results."
St Anne's School in Borivli has been charging parents for its repairs since last year. Pics/Nimesh Dave
Resolved, but not quite
A parent, however, said, "The principal did agree to give us the results after the police intervened, but when we went back to the school for it, she told us to give in writing that if anything happened to our children due to the poor infrastructure there, the school authorities won't be held responsible, which is totally unfair."
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The principal, too, accepted that she asked for a written assurance from the parents who didn't contribute to the fund.
"Our school is running out of funds. In August 2016, with the PTA's approval, we appealed to parents to fund the new structure. We have also approached the state government. The government has given Rs 15 lakh. We need Rs 22 crore for new infrastructure," said Sister Rosily.
"It's a lie that we forced parents to pay for the fund in exchange for results. Our only concern is students' safety. Hence, we asked parents to give that in writing."
President of Forum for Fairness in Education Jayant Jain slammed the school's tactics. "If the school is running out of funds, it should seek help from the state government. It's the management's job to figure out some other way, but they can't force parents to pay for the repairs. The government should take strict action on such activities by the school," he said.
