Parents, city school lock horns over day boarding

Jaipur: Students and guardians of Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ School (MGD) at Ajmeri Gate organised a protest on Saturday after the school authorities made day-boarding facilities mandatory for all students of Class VI.Guardians had alleged that this decision of the school authority is a pretext to hike the tuition fees of the school to a great extent.“During and post-Covid 19 pandemic, schools in Jaipur were sympathetic and did not increase the fees. However, this season, most schools in Jaipur have increased the fees. In the midst of all this, MGD has made day boarding compulsory for all the students of Class VI and has increased the tuition fees of the standard to a great extent,” said Kaushal Khinchi, a guardian. Established in 1943, this school is considered to be oldest all-girl day boarding school in the country. Guardians had alleged that for this year the tuition fee for students of Class VI is around Rs 1,52,000 per annum, which was around Rs 68,000 per annum last year.“While my younger daughter got promoted to Class VI this year, my elder daughter is in Class IX this year. In Class IX the tuition fee is Rs 22,000 per quarter – less than that of Class VI. This is something unique. School administration is telling for this year it is a pilot project only for Class VI and they may implement the diktat for all standards from next year,” added Khinchi. However, school authorities claimed that they had taken written consent from the parents or guardians before implementing such a decision.“Around eight years back, we had decided to start day boarding facilities for students from Class VI onwards. Accordingly, we had taken written consent from each parent and guardians of the schools and were also reminding them about our plan at the beginning every session. Now, when the time for implementation came, they are resenting,” said Archana S Mankotia, school principal.