Protesting against the steep hike in admission and tuition fees in public schools, members of All Uttarakhand Parents’ Association (AUPA) and Parents of the Indian Academy staged demonstration at the Collectorate on Saturday. They submitted a memorandum addressing the Education Secretary through additional DM. They demanded immediate withdrawal of uncontrolled hike in admission and tuition fees by the private schools.
One of the protesters Neeraj Singhal said that public schools seek no objection certificates from education department. “As per the Government order, schools can hike its fees in every three years. However, as per GO, schools cannot hike fees more than 10 per cent in three years. However, in reality, public schools do not follow this. They hike fees every year according to their whims,” he said.
He alleged that a private school ‘The Indian academy’ had allegedly hiked its fees multiple times in the last academic session. The academy parents’ association had protested and the academy had withdrawn hiked fees, he added. This year too, the academy had hiked its fees, he added. Under the Right to Education Act, each school should form PTA, he said, adding that the academy has not formed Parent Teacher Association (PTA) as per the norms. The protesters demanded the administration to take initiatives for stopping private schools from hiking admission and tuition fees at their whims in the forthcoming academic session.
In another development, ABVP members protested in the city against hike in admission and tuition fees on Saturday. Anshul Chawla, ABVP member, said that the government should fix up things instead. Donation during admission of children in private schools should be stopped too and it should be declared an offence. Besides, the school authorities should not be allowed to dictate the parents to purchase children’s text books from particular shops, he said.
Apart from this, the State should take initiatives to improve quality of education in the Govt schools. There should be a norm to make the ministers, secretaries and other Government officers to send their children to the Govt schools for studies, Chawla added.