The agitation by parents of St Joseph Convent School located at Church Road has been intensified since Thursday protesting the ‘abnormal increase’ of admission fee for students by the school authorities.
According to information, the school authorities have increased the admission fee by 60 per cent during the current session which is the cause of worry for a large number of parents who cannot afford to pay it.
The parents staged a dharna infront of the school last week demanding a rollback of the hiked fee. On Thursday, hundreds of parents blocked the road putting the vehicular traffic out of gear. After the police intervened, the situation was brought under control as the school authorities reportedly agreed for an amicable settlement of the issue through discussions with the parents.
Several parents have complained that the abnormal increase of admission fee at one go is irrational, unilateral and much higher compared to the admission fee of all other private English medium schools in the city.
The school authorities are collecting the higher fee on the pretext of infrastructural development, and if parent complains about the fee hike, they and their children are issued show-cause notices, alleged a parent.
last week when the parents staged a dharna in front of the main gate of the school, the school management had reportedly assured them to reconsider the matter in a week and persuaded them to withdraw their agitation, but in vain. The parents have also complained that whenever such fee hikes are made, they are never consulted.
The parents kept their motorbikes and cycles on the middle of the road from 6 am to 9 am on Thursday bringing the vehicular traffic to a halt. None from the school management came forward to hold talks with the parents, alleged the parents. Only when Town police station IIC Anil Mishra and his team came to the spot and persuaded the parents for an amicable settlement, the situation was brought under control.
A parent, who did not wish to be identified, however, demanded that the entire school accounts be brought under the ambience of public audit as the funds are reportedly being utilised for a variety of questionable purposes.