Hyderabad: As per the directives from the Telangana State Government Education Department on COVID-19 pandemic- Regulation of school fees, the school shall not increase any kind of fees during the academic year 2020-21 and shall charge only tuition fee on monthly basis till further orders. Non-compliance with this instruction will result in cancellation of school recognition, revoking the NOC, and initiation of appropriate action against the School Management under relevant Acts/Rules, Telangana Parents Association for Child Rights & Safety (TPACRS) said on Friday in a media release.
However, the association the Chairman of TPACRS and Sakina Foundation Md Asif Hussain Sohail stated that they have been receiving messages from parents that few schools are still not following these instructions or adding other fee along with the tuition fee.
Geethika and Aakash, whose son is in Class X from a renowned school in Hyderabad, are concerned about a random amount being asked by the school to be paid as the Tuition fee. “Can the school tell us what made them arrive at that number?”, asks Geethika and Aakash. Our efforts to get the version from the school did not yield any results. They were not willing to communicate with us citing administrative reasons.
In another instance, Ms Anjum Fatima, a parent told us that they received a video from school which talks about the fact that the school has to pay for electricity, teachers salary and support staff salaries and so on and hence the parents should support them as well.
“Even schools need to think about the parents also many parents lost their jobs or some parents had 50% percent of a salary cut. Can the school utilize the very high admission fees that were collected”, says Anjum Fatima Haritha N, another concerned parent, thinks that the directives given by the Government to the schools are of no use, as the tuition fee is already hitting peaks.
The Association has also conducted an online on its Facebook page and gathered the parent feedback.
Source Link – https://www.facebook.com/telanganaparents/posts/2937263769724343
To clear the air and to ensure there is a win-win situation for all schools and parents, Telangana Parents Association for Child Rights and Safety (TPACRS) requests the concerned authorities to swiftly act upon the following:
- Conduct a high-level meeting with parents and schools, TPACRS can facilitate this meeting.
- Issue directive to schools to provide clarity on Tuition Fees.
- Bailout schools which are forced to collect an additional fee from parents to meet their expenditures
Telangana Parents Association for Child Rights and Safety (TPACRS) asked the School Education Department officials to define clear-cut guidelines on the Tuition fee. Until then, the schools should be ordered not to collect any fees.
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