Parents in city to join protest against fee hike in pvt schools

Parents across the city will join the nation-wide multi-city stir against issues in the private education system in the country on February 3.

Parents' associations and NGOs in different cities such as Mumbai, Nasik, and Allahabad are coordinating the protests.

In Bengaluru, silent protests are being organised in Marathahalli and Whitefield.

AB Suresh, one of the key organisers in the city, said the protests were mainly against the fee hike by private schools which is more than 10% every year.

"It is against both the state and central government policies. A major thing is that schools are increasing the fee on the excuse that they have to admit children under the Right to Education quota without the fee. They claim that the money reimbursed by the government is not enough and we are forced to make up for it," Suresh, a parent, said.

Another bone of contention is that the majority of schools do not have a democratically-elected parent-teachers association (PTA).

"We have no idea what is happening to the fee we pay. We have no say in what happens in the school. Some schools have a PTA for namesake. But they have only parents who are on the management's side," he said.