23 May,2011 07:04 AM IST | | Alifiya Khan and Aishwarya Kadam
Inundated with requests to keep highlighting issue of never-ending fee hikes, MiD DAY today brings you complaints from parents who have been fighting pvt schools using means ranging from fasts to knocking on govt officials' doors
EVEN though MiD DAY's campaign against irregularities in private schools has already covered the issue of fee hikes, we have decided to continue writing on this after requests from parents and their professional bodies, who brought to our attention how in spite of filing a large number of complaints in this regard, they still have had to come back empty handed.
Parents at a fee hike protest outside the Rosary school in Viman Nagar
The parents' movement against fee hikes in private schools that began a year ago is far from dying in the city; it is getting only hotter by the day as new alliances amongst parents get forged.
On Saturday, parents from various schools got together and formed MahaParents, a state level body to fight fee hikes.
Last week, we wrote about schools where parents were yet to come out in the open and lodge official complaints for fear of repercussions from school managements.
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Today we bring you complaints from those parents who have not only openly criticised school managements, but also tried everything they could do, from registering complaints at government offices to hunger strikes and even getting arrested for fighting over fees with school managements.
Rosary school
The most prominent fight between parents and a school management has been at the Rosary School.
The school, which has multiple branches across the city, hiked its fees by more than 50 per cent last year. MiD DAY was the first to report on this and the protest by parents. What followed was months of struggle.
As parents lodged multiple complaints against the school management, the education minister and deputy director intervened and asked the school to roll back the fee hike. Yet, the school refused to do so, citing that the department concerned had no jurisdiction on this aspect.
"The current situation is that the fee hike still stands as it is. The school management has in fact collected post-dated cheques from parents for this year's fees, as they think parents will win later and they will lose the money.
We have complained to all possible authorities, and the municipal corporation even sent a show-cause notice to the school asking them to return the cheques, but nothing happened," said Sayyed Shahir Ali, a Guruwar Peth resident whose son studies in Rosary School, Camp.
It has been three days since the last date for PMC's show-cause notice has passed, but parents claim their cheques have not been returned.
Pooja Kadam, whose child studies in Std III, said the school management has threatened to expel children if cheques are not given.
"They have told us to withdraw kids and put in other schools if we can't pay up. This year's tuition fee is Rs 1750 per month; it was Rs 1250 and Rs 850 in previous two years.
What's more the school charges Rs 1500 for education material which doesn't include textbooks but merely notebooks and we aren't supposed to question them," she complained.
Another parent whose child studies in Std 5 complained that there was no clarity on fees.
"At least till the last few years, they would give us a break-up of the fees so we could argue with them. Since we began pointing out mistakes like activity fees when there are no activities, they have given us merely a consolidated sum and no break-up of the charges," he said, requesting anonymity.
Sinhagad Springdale
The other school that came under the spotlight for fee hikes was Sinhagad Springdale School, which also has multiple branches. Trouble began brewing at the Narhe campus initially, when parents complained of a 35 per cent hike, and the protest soon spread to the other campus.
Anil Mahajan, whose son studies in Std IV at the Narhe campus, said that parents had simply put their foot down and refused to pay the revised fees.
"We know that they can't throw our kids out, our parents association is quite strong now and won't allow that to happen. We will not tolerate the highhandedness of the school authorities.
My son's fees were Rs 14,000 and now the school wants Rs 21,500," he said. "Imagine the difference in the amount; how will I handle our family budget?"
Parents complain that they have lodged various complaints in this regard with the deputy director of education and the municipal corporation, among others, but to no avail. The parents also met several ministers in this regard and the school agreed to give a concession in fees after some politicians interfered.
Nitin Pangare, whose son studies in Std V, said the school had agreed to give a 10 per cent discount to parents who pay up early.
"On April 28, the school announced a 10 per cent discount in fees and said that the new fees are Rs 18,990. But the discount is only valid up to June 20 and not applicable to those who pay later. They think they are being benevolent, but we refuse to give in," he said.
What the law says
The state government is working on a fee regulation act for private unaided schools. It is still being drafted. Officially, there is no law that specifically looks after 'arbitrary' fee hikes by private schools, as all existing government resolutions have been quashed by the high court.
In the absence of a law, Rajendra Darda, school education minister, announced that the deputy director of the city, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and elsewhere will keep strict vigil on all educational institutions and ensure that the Capitation Fee Act is implemented.
The officials have been asked to look into parents' complaints and check each school's accounts records for the last three years.
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Show-cause notice will be issued to schools if they are found charging excess fees or their account books show that the profit made by them is not used for educational purposes, and then the management will have to withdraw the hike.
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Those failing to do so will face severe action, promised Darda. He specifically announced that school managements have no right to collect blank or post-dated cheques from parents.
The Other Side
Over three days, MiD DAY tried to contact officials from Rosary and Sinhagad Springdale schools. Sinhagad Springdale registrar A V Deshpande refused to entertain queries and disconnected the phone. He did not respond to text messages as well.
At Rosary School, too, chairman Vinay Aranha refused to answer phone calls and did not respond to text messages on his personal phone.
A visit to the school proved futile as security staffers said no management representative was available. Noth C Balan, administrator, and Ashwin Kamat, marketing head, did not respond to queries on the telephone.
On earlier occasions, when MiD DAY had spoken to the management of Rosary School, they had said that the fee hike was reasonable.
"It is because the teachers' salaries have been upped after the Sixth Pay Commission and other costs have increased.
The hike is reasonable and involves no profiteering and most parents are fine with it. Only a certain group of them is complaining," Balan had said. Deshpande of Sinhagad Springdale School had also claimed that the hike was to pay revised salaries of teachers.
HAVE a problem illegal fee hikes, RTE violations, lack of facilities at the private school your child is in? YOU can tell MiD DAY your experience (and send us pictures, videos or documents you might want to share) as we conduct this campaign against irregularities in private schools in association with the PMC's education board and parents' organisations.
Part VII
E-mail address: schoolcampaign.midday@gmail.com
Call us on (020) 6701 6026 and ask for our reporters Alifiya Khan or Debarati Palit
