Hyderabad: Demanding to withdraw fee hike in various private schools, hundreds of parents and members of Progressive Democratic Students Union (PDSU) staged a dharna at Telangana Department of School Education (DSE) office demanding the government to take action on private schools that are charging heavy fees violating the fees norms.
PDSU stressed on implementing the government orders (GO MS No. 1, 32 and 91) which is about the prohibition of school fees hike, forming a parent’s committee and following other mandated norms.
Though GOs 1, 42, 91 exist to control school fees but their implementation limited to only papers. Government is washing their hands by constituting committees and delaying action, the members alleged.
The parents have decided to continue the protest against the schools and further course of action will be decided later. The constant unregulated hike in the fees of private schools has forced the parents around the city to organise themselves and fight the issue together.
Some of the parents of students from Amrita Vidyalayam School at Secunderabad are planning for a protest on Wednesday against the school’s management for forcibly issuing TCs (transfer certificates) to their children.
“It is a very big problem in Telangana private schools. We don’t want KG to PG. First announce the school fee publicly. DEO and MEO managed by corporate schools. Three techno books plus 20 note books cost Rs 7,000 in Narayana Chaitanya,” Yellareddy Suhasni posts a comment in Facebook.
Similarly another parent puts his comments on FB after watching a discussion on TV. “All the stakeholders (Parents and Schools) who participated in the discussion agreed to the fact that there should be an autonomous fee regulator but who should appoint and oversee it. It’s the government and the important stakeholder is missing in action. Very surprisingly there is consensus and still the government is not acting.”
Recently, when the protests took place in Hyderabad, Hyderabad School Parents’ Association (HSPA) launched a programme named “missed call campaign” for parents.
The associations asked the parents to dial a number on a given day if they wanted the regulation of the school fees. Reportedly, they received 1.3 lakh calls in total. Among them 17,800 were from Delhi, 10,550 from Karnataka and 14,994 from Maharashtra.
“I want the government to act on school fee hike. Want this to happen? Give a missed call now at 8686004050. Your call counts,” a banner of HSPA reads.
Courtesy: Metro India