26 people set to go on indefinite hunger strike

Members of forum against arbitrary fee hikes are demanding implementation of Fee Regulation Act, transparency in school admissions

26 people set to go on indefinite hunger strike

Members of forum against arbitrary fee hikes are demanding implementation of Fee Regulation Act, transparency in school admissions

FOLLOWING a spate of protests by parents against arbitrary fee hikes effected by city schools last year, nearly 26 members of the Forum Against Commercialisation of Education (FACE) will go on an indefinite hunger strike in front of their Tardeo office from January 15.

Fee hike protests by parents, like this one at a Mazgaon school last year, have now become a regular feature

They are demanding implementation of the proposed Fee Regulation Act (see box) and are calling for greater transparency in pre-primary and primary school admissions.

Dr Vivek Korde, state president, FACE, said the illegal practice of demanding a capitation fee, or donation, is still followed by many schools. He alleged that the police are not very helpful in such cases and often send a notice to the parents instead, to stop them from taking any further action.

"The gargantuan fee hikes are making it impossible for the common man to afford quality education. I am going to participate in the indefinite hunger strike, which, we hope, will serve as a wake-up call to our education department. Five or six new people will join us in the hunger strike every day," said Korde.

Protests boomerang

Like FACE, which has seven branches in the state, other forums like the Forum for Fairness in Education (FFE), have also extended their support to protests by parents in the past. They say, however, that the protests often boomerang onto the parents themselves.

FEE officials claim that more than 200 parents had faced harassment for protesting against the Shree Mumbadevi English School in Khar. The authorities had allegedly detained 60 students in the library for three consecutive days because last year, parents had refused to pay the fee for the whole year in advance.

Jayant Jain, president, All India Federation of PTA and the FFE, said, "We have been fighting against arbitrary fee hikes for more than 10 years.

We are beginning to lose hope of any action from the government as more then 60 per cent of the schools are run by ministers. We don't think the Fee Regulation Act will be implemented."

"Most continue to ask for capitation fee disguised as fixed deposits, admission fee and other fees in the name of curriculum activity when the law says that schools can only ask for tuition fees, computer fees and term fees.
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The police have been uncooperative and a state minister told us that we should not let fees be a factor as long as students are getting quality education. We don't expect such statements from the government, at least not at a time when the Right to Education is being discussed," he added.

Dr Avisha Kulkarni, whose daughter's admission was cancelled because she protested against the school's fee hike, said, "My daughter's admission was cancelled by the school just because I protested against the fee hike. I am, however, still part of the writ petition filed against the school for the arbitrary fee hike the final hearing for which is in two weeks."

"The court and the education department are misguided every time a case is filed against any school. I have faced a lot of problems during this fight but I am not scared of any politician or anyone else for that matter. I will keep fighting this battle until I succeed,"
she added.

Fee regulation act
School education minister Rajendra Darda assured the state assembly in December that a Fee Regulation Act would be put in place by the budget session in March to regulate fees charged by schools and to contain the recent flare-ups in the state.

The Other Side
Repeated attempts to get comments from the Deputy Director of State Education proved futile. Education Minister Rajendra Darda was out of town.