Parents protest Dwarka school’s ostracising of students who did not pay higher fee

New Delhi: Over the past few weeks, parents of several students in a Dwarka private school have come forward with disturbing claims. They have said that their children were publicly shamed and isolated for one reason: their families' refusal to accept, what they called, an "arbitrary and illegal" fee hike and pay that to the school.According to the parents of DPS Dwarka, students who did not pay the new increased fee were forcibly removed from classes. They said that, rather than spending their school day learning with their peers, the children were confined to the library and forbidden from speaking to their classmates. Even basic requirements — visiting the washroom, getting a drink of water — were strictly monitored in the case of these children. "They were being escorted by housekeeping staff, like criminals," a parent, who has not slept properly in days, has said.The emotional toll, the parents said, was devastating. Many children returned home in tears, too anxious to sleep or study. Some, they said, began to dread going to school. Attempts to contact the school's principal and administration went unanswered.On Sunday, the group — calling themselves DPS Dwarka Aggrieved Parents — held a news conference to speak, not just about the trauma their children had faced, but about a system they said had failed them entirely. Their demands were straightforward: transparency in the investigation, accountability from those in charge, and an end to the "mental harassment and illegal confinement" of the students, they said.The parents demanded the immediate disclosure of the investigation report prepared by the district magistrate team under the directive of the directorate of education regarding an incident when the children were allegedly held hostage in the school library and subjected to alleged mental harassment.They also called for the release of the names of all govt and non-govt officials found complicit or negligent in the matter, holding them accountable for the "trauma inflicted on the students".Furthermore, the parents wanted transparency on how the "DPS Society violated the children's fundamental right to education, as guaranteed under the Constitution". They wanted to know what concrete actions, if any, were taken by govt and administrative bodies in response to these serious allegations.