Gurgaon: Parents protest outside private school against fee hike
Parents say Delhi Public School Ghaziabad, Palam Vihar, increased the annual fee from Rs 65,000 to Rs 1.62 lakh.
Hundreds of parents gathered outside the Delhi Public School Ghaziabad (DPSG), Palam Vihar, on Friday, protesting against a fee hike for about four hours. Parents alleged that the school hiked its fee two-and-a-half fold, and demanded an explanation from the institution and a rollback of the tuition fee hike.
“Earlier, we were paying Rs 65,000 annually but, with the new structure, we will have to pay R 1.62 lakh,” Yashesh Yadav, a parent, said.
“We were paying Rs 7,750 as tuition fees and it has been increased to Rs 26,000. Annual charges have been increased from Rs 5,400 to Rs 15,000, and development fees from Rs 825 to Rs 12,000. How can a school just increase the fee without prior notice and not justify it?” Harpreet Kaur, another parent, said.
Parents also demanded that the school share details of expenses. Some parents have also written to the director, school education department.
On the other hand, school authorities said the hike is “merely 35%” which is reasonable as it’s a new school in which infrastructure is still being set up. “We have not rolled out the new fee structure yet. We had called the parents last week and discussed the fee hike with them. We have decided to raise the fees only after receiving their consent. We are still working on it and discussions are on with the management,” Deepika Sharma, principal, DPSG, said.
The parents approached the district education office and requested officials to speak to the school about the hike.
Parents said they got together to devise their strategy to battle the ever-increasing school fee. They also plan to approach district education officials to obtain Form 6 which has details of the fee structure and finances of schools.
“We have decided to meet the Fee and Fund Regulatory Committee, demanding a fee audit if they find any irregularities in the form,” Dev Kumar, a parent, said.
Parents said they have decided to meet the school management on Saturday, and if their demands are not met, they will continue to protest outside the school.
“The school will have to roll back the fee hike as there is already a burden of 10% annual hike, which is reasonable. The additional hike is an extra burden on salaried parents,” Ruchi Dhaiya, a parent, said.