JOIN USArbitrary fees leave parents fuming
Parents are up in arms against many schools collecting arbitrary fees under many heads.
Greenwood High School, Sarjapur has been in the news for charging Rs 40,000 a year as canteen fees. Parents recently protested as the school insisted on collecting the fee even for children bringing food from home.
Principal Aloysius D’Mello described the fee as “presumed to be compulsory.”
“Waivers were offered in case the child had a medical condition, and even on religious grounds,” he says. He justified the fee, saying the school offers an “11-course meal, breakfast and juices.” He claims 300 students ate school food without paying anything for two months “but we did not object.”
Parents say they have no clue about what is served in the canteen, but the school says it has put up its food quality standards on the website.
Aloysius D’Mello says the school increased its fees by 12 per cent and not 25, as was being reported. He suggests the government constitute a regulatory board to verify if a particular school is able to offer all amenities and then allow a 15% or 12% annual hike.
Singapore syllabus
The Baldwin Co-Education Extension High School, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, is currently facing the ire of parents opposing the school’s decision to switch from ICSE to the Singapore-based Xseed programme.
A parent says the new curriculum is no better than the ICSE syllabus but puts an additional strain on the children as each subject has four textbooks. This parent did not purchase the books from the stipulated vendor as his prices were too steep. His child has been borrowing books from his classmates to keep abreast with the portions.
Parents lodged complaints with both the District Education Regulatory Authority (DERA) and the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KCPCR), saying the school was forcing them to buy books from a single vendor, and at exorbitant prices. After meeting parents, the KCPCR directed the school to stop the sale of books, but the school got a court stay. Meanwhile, Murali, a parent who has been leading the fight against the school, says the school is cornering children who do not have textbooks.
He also objected to the statement of D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of Associated Managements of Private School In Karnataka, that the child rights commission had no right to issue such a directive. Murali urged general secretary to take a moral stand and ban the Baldwin group from its association. The case is coming up for a hearing in the High Court on July 16. (Baldwin School could not be reached despite several attempts.)
Loopholes in fee regulation laws and government apathy have put parents on the back foot in their fight against unreasonable school managements.
Parents’ frustration
The annual fee hike in private schools is unregulated, although on paper, the Karnataka government caps it at 15 per cent a year. The parents’ frustration is compounded by the hidden expenses that schools spring on them. The primary and secondary education department issued a notification in May 2017 capping the tuition fee hike at 15 per cent a year.