Rosary accepts demands after year-long struggle by parents

School agrees it will not insist on payment of fees in advance or purchase of study material from specific vendors, assures parents it will build new toilets and provide playgrounds, parking space and water filters

School agrees it will not insist on payment of fees in advance or purchase of study material from specific vendors, assures parents it will build new toilets and provide playgrounds, parking space and water filtersu00a0

The u00a0year-long struggle by parents of Rosary School students against the management has borne fruit with the school authorities bowing down to the agitators and accepting most of their demands. Since April last year the parents of students had been fighting over irregular fee hikes, lack of facilities at the school as well as safety of students and payments to teachers, among other things. MiD DAY was the first to report on the fee hike at Rosary School. For the past 14 months, the school management refused to acknowledge the struggle, which spread like wildfire and large-scale protests were launched by parents' rights organizations. The struggle took various forms, from hunger strikes to blocking government officials.


Long struggle: A past protest by parents against the fee hike oustside
the Camp campus of the Rosary school;u00a0MiD DAY report on June 22,
2010, on the growing protests

The parents had even lodged police complaints, approached ministers and knocked on court doors to get justice. The parents intensified the struggle and threatened to get violent after the school refused to allow children to attend classes after the academic year opened last week, on June 15.u00a0The school had demanded that the parents pay the full year's fees in advance or give post-dated cheques. If any parent failed to do so, their children were not allotted divisions and were made to sit outside class. Finally on June 18, deputy director of education Sunil Magar intervened and convened a meeting of parents, the management, Zilla Parishad and municipal corporation education officials.

At this joint meeting, the management of Rosary School accepted most of the demands of parents and even gave a copy of the minutes of the meeting, duly acknowledged by education officials, to parents on Monday (MiD DAY has a copy of this document). "About 90 per cent of our demands have been accepted in front of education officials. They agreed to construct new toilets, as the existing ones are too few. Besides they will get water filters, playground and parking space for students, and there will be no compulsion of buying study material from specific vendors," said Sayyed S T, parent organisation member.

Another parent, Ajay Sathe, said that many other demands like disaster management training for staffers and break up of fees would be met. "The main demand that was accepted was that parents don't need to pay annual fees in advance. We also don't need to give post-dated cheques but can give monthly fees," said Nilesh Mahajan, a parent.

The Other Side
Despite repeated attempts, the Rosary School management was not available for comment. But deputy director of education Sunil Magar said that a truce between parents and management had been reached.

Timeline of Protests
April 2010: Rosary School management sends the circular of the fee hike for the next academic year
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July 2010: After receiving letters to pay up revised fees, parents gather outside and protest against the fee hike. The stir by parents continues for three days; police called in on third day after violence breaks out. Police complaints lodged against headmistress for threatening students to pay fees
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August 2010: Parents make public the school's audit report and allege profiteering
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September 2010: Violence breaks out during protests, complaint against school management registered by parents
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October 2010: School informs parents to pay fees, saying students will not be allowed to write exams otherwise. But after parents' protests, school buckles under pressure and allows students to write exams
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December 2010: Parents demand de-affiliation of Rosary School
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May 2011: Rosary parents become part of state-level parent body MahaParents formed to fight irregular fee hikes
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June 15, 2011: Fight breaks out once again after students are kept away from classes because parents refuse to give post-dated cheques of advance fees
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June 18, 2011: Management accepts most demands of parents in joint meeting with education officials