Parents of the students of the Stewart School here have planned to move the High Court against the school management for pressurising them to pay nearly Rs85 lakh which is to be paid as gratuity and other retirement benefits for the school’s former staffs and remains unpaid for years due to negligence of the management.
“The school management is supposed to pay gratuity and retirement benefit of the teachers and other staffs, and for that purpose it has taken a scheme under the lIC. The school has currently around 2,000 students, and the unpaid dues amounting Rs85 lakh which has been divided among 2,000 students (around Rs5,000 per student) has been imposed on parents to pay,” stated a Press release issued by several parents.
Alleging that the school is run in a British raj style, the parents alleged stated that the school management has converted the institution into a business proposition or a lucrative money making machine. “The school also has increased admission fees in nursery classes from Rs25,000 to Rs45,000 in the current year.
There is least focus by the school authorities on the sanitation of student urinals and toilets and for sports activities,” added the release. The release added that the parents have already written to the Scholl and Mass Education Minister and Secretary regarding the mismanagement and have now planned to file a PIl at the Odisha High Court.