Fee hike protests erupt in Faridabad

FARIDABAD: While the agitation by parents against the fee hike by private schools has been intensifying in Gurgaon, Faridabad too is on the boil against the recent, excessive fee hike. In their various memoranda, parents' associations in the city have vehemently criticized the schools and exposed how they fleece the parents.
Satyavir Sharma, general secretary of an NGO Faridabad Abhivavak Ekta Manch (FAEM), told Times City that any given private school, in its quarterly demand for fees, charges for activity fee, house-keeping fee, tour/excursion fee (which everybody must pay), medical fee, among others, for which parents have already been paying through their nose.
The members of FAEM, comprising various parents' associations, have been on a hunger strike outside the district courts in Sector-12. They have also been joined by many advocates.
Meanwhile, deputy commissioner Brijendra Singh had on March 16 directed public school managements to furbish information and data on things like the school's income and expenditure statements for the past three years, and whether as per CBSE's rules the school consults parents' association before enforcing fee hike etc. This move had come in order to have a transparent settlement with the parents' association. However, no school has reportedly responded to this.
The FAEM has submitted a memorandum to the Haryana chief minister requesting him to intervene in the matter. Kailash Sharma, a social activist, said, "Some schools have hiked the tuition fee by Rs 300 for the primary sections. A primary class consists of minimum 30 students and the amount thus raised would be Rs 9,000. However, the teachers would be paid only a part of this additional amount. The schools have just found a way to exploit the parents, many of whom are facing pay cuts due to the economic meltdown.''
Another aggrieved parent, Sudhir Dudeja, said that in the face of clear instructions by the high court as well as directorate of education, Haryana, parents are being exploited at shops opened inside the school premises where books and stationary items are excessively priced.
���In case a settlement is not reached, the association will have no alternative but to seek justice from the Punjab & Haryana High Court,��� Sharma added.