Mumbai: Parents of students from 17 unaided schools, led by NGO, Forum for Fairness in Education (FFE), staged a protest at Azad Maidan, against the steep fee hike by the schools’ managements and sought imposition of cap on such fee hikes in future. The parents also demanded permission to purchase essential articles including uniforms and school books from shops outside schools. Meanwhile, the state education minister assured protesters that their grievances would be addressed in a few days.
According to the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), over the past few weeks, many privately-run schools in Mumbai have raised their fees without seeking the consent of parents. This is in violation of the Maharashtra School Fee Regulation Act, which states that schools need the PTA to approve fee hikes.
FFE president Jayant Jain told The Asian Age, “The schools are demanding huge amount of fees in different forms such as re-admission fee of Rs 2,500 from the current Rs 1,500; and security deposit of Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 towards compulsory purchase of books, uniforms, stationary, sports kits and other study materials.”
“Fees are hiked without PTA consent. There is huge amount of profiteering and financial audits of these schools have never been done. If the government orders a probe into the audits, these schools will have to refund fees,” he said.
A parent Suman Singh said, “There should be a compulsory cap on the fee structure. The PTA Committee should be elected as per the high court order instead of lottery system.”
State education minister Vinod Tawde said, “I am personally monitoring this issue and have spoken to school management and parents. We will come up with the solution in a few working days. I have asked the department to initiate a probe into the matter.”
