Parents accuse private schools of 'mocking common people' with huge hikes in fees
While the Delhi government is taking stringent action against private schools over 'unjustified' fee hikes, the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have failed to do so.
Huge sums are being charged by private schools in Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram, leaving parents angry and out of pocket.
At the Pathways School in Noida, fees have risen by 10 per cent this year alone. The parents of a student of class six are being made to pay Rs 99,000 a quarter, plus an annual IT fee of Rs 20,000 - and that's on top of uniform and book charges.
Hikes in fees at private schools have left parents angry and out of pocket (picture for representation only).
Unwilling to pay this amount, more than 300 parents protested outside the school yesterday morning.
Despite the high price tag on the education of their child, they alleged the quality of the school and its education is sinking.
'The school has been increasing the fee by 10 per cent every year. Last year, we paid Rs 90,000 as the quarterly fee and this year we have been asked to pay Rs 99,000.
'There are charges above this fee too. The school charges Rs 20,000 as IT fee and we have no idea where the money goes,' said a parent named Swati, whose child is a student of Pathways School on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.
Even after repeated calls and messages, the director of the school, Dr Shalini Advani, did not respond to queries.
Recently, the Delhi government pulled up two branches of Delhi Public School, ordering them to rollback the fee hike. A similar order was issued to GD Salwan Public School.
Neeti Shrivastava, president, Gautam Budh Nagar Parents’ Association, said: 'Why are they not walking in the footsteps of Delhi government? The Uttar Pradesh government has no control over the private schools due to which the parents have to suffer.
'We have started a signature campaign and will be submitting the complaints to the Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Every school in Gautam Budh Nagar district is following its own set of rules.'
Hundreds of parents face the brunt of fee hikes every year. Unlike in Delhi, there are no guidelines in the neighbouring areas.
Large numbers of parents in the National Capital Region (NCR) have been protesting against the unjustified fee hike by authorities.
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Vasistha Dabas, a parent whose children are class three and six students at a prominent international school said: 'The Haryana education department is a toothless body which has no control over private schools.
'As most of the schools belong to prominent politicians or its owners are well connected, they have been implementing rules according to their strength to mock common people.'
Lack of guidelines from the state education department in these areas has forced the parents to pay arbitrary fees.
Manoj Kaushik, district education officer, told Mail Today that there are no clear guidelines regarding the annual fee hike in Gurugram.
'While there are no said rules in this regard, we have asked all schools to submit the data of the expenses and an audit report of balance sheets and surplus funds to the department', he said.
