Parents seek govt action on fee hike

RANCHI: The RanchiAbhibhawakManch has asked the state government to take stern action against private schools for unnecessarily
hiking the admission fees, bus fare, cost of books and copies and other miscellaneous charges in the name of development.
Ajay Rai, the chairman of the Manch said, "Every year, the city schools go on hiking the fees in the name of development and tuition fees deceiving the parents that is
putting extra burden on the parents from the middle class.We have met the human resource development (HRD) secretary and the district superintendent of education (DSE) for acting against all the private schools that are exploiting the parents. They have assured of taking action on these private schools in the city
failing which we will meet the governor and seek his help," added Rai.
Ignoring the guidelines of the Jharkhand Education Tribunal (JET) that says schools can hike fee structure up to 10% citing sound reasons for the increment, the schools in the city are increasing their fees annually, he alleged.
Violating the guidelines of the JET, the private schools (affiliated to both the CBSE and the ICSE) in the city are forcing the parents to follow their own set of rules.
Parents, however, are disappointed with the fee hike as well as the school management's decision to make it mandatory to purchase books and uniforms from the campus. Rajesh Kumar said, "My daughter is in Class V in Bishop Westcott School, Namkum. Every year there is a change in the fee structure and this time it has been hiked beyond our expectations."
The Manch, which has about 1,700 members, is influential because it had prompted the administration take a drive against dilapidated school buses in the past.
There are a total of 610 private schools in the city that are flouting the guidelines of JET and are also not fulfilling the RTE norms, a parent alleged.
HRD secretary D K Tiwari said, "We will ask the district education officer and the DSE to call a meeting to sort out the grievances of the guardians."