The complaint counter opened by the education department to register grievances of parents against the private school operators is not getting desired response.
On Monday, only four parents posted their grievance at the counter. The department opened the complaint counter at the office of District Education Officer (DEO) on Saturday after protest by various organisations against the hegemony of the private schools. The department has released the helpline numbers 0135-2787027 and 0134-2789841 for registering complaints.
The Chief Education Officer SP Khali said that the counter and helpline has been set up to help the parents. He said that the parents should come up with proofs of their complaints they are registering. On the first day, only three parents came forward to register their grievance while on Monday, four complaints were registered.
The District Right to Education (RTE) coordinator Ajay Parihar told The Pioneer that a parent had complained that Delhi Public School (DPS) is forcing them to purchase books and other stationery from a selected shop only.
Another parent has made similar allegation on Asian Public School. One of the parents of Heritage school has complained that school has steeply raised the annual fees this year. It was learnt that the parents are hesitating to lodge their complaints due to fear of retaliation from the school management against their wards.
Manish Rawat, a resident of Raipur, said that the education department is toothless to deal with the private schools so there is no point is filing complaints and inviting the wrath of these schools.
He said that the State Government should make concrete laws to control these schools. Meanwhile the Uttarakhand Parents Association continued its struggle against the private school owners. On Monday, a delegation of parents association of Heritage school met the school management. The delegation demanded that the school should reduce the annual fees, take back the hike in fees and constitute PTA. They advised that the management should increase fees once in three years. The delegation threatened to intensify their agitation if their demands are not accepted by the school management.