Parents protest against Podar school for increasing fees during pandemic

Parents from all the boards (ICSE, CBSE and IB) assembled at 11am outside the school to appeal to the management to revoke the fee hike

Navi Mumbai: Tense situation prevailed at Podar International School, Seawoods on Saturday after parents staged protest outside the building over its administration imposing fee hike in the pandemic. Parents from all the boards (ICSE, CBSE and IB) assembled at 11am outside the school to appeal to the management to revoke the fee hike, which was implemented for the academic year 2021- 22 as well as the fee hike proposed to be taken in 2023 - 24.

Parents of students studying in Podar International School stage a protest against school management over hiked school fees and other financial irregularities at Seawoods, Nerul, in Navi Mumbai on Saturday. (Bachchan Kumar/ HT PHOTO)

After waiting outside the school gate for over three hours, agitated parents that included over 50 ladies and 100 odd men eventually got their way inside and staged a sit down dharna.

Kewal Mehta, a parent present at the protest shared, “Since the beginning of the year we have been asking the management to not levy term fee as during lockdown no facility of the school was used. Instead of acknowledging the situation, the management has clubbed both term and tuition fees which adds to a steep hike of nearly 24% - 26 % from last year fees.”

Parents elaborated that in 2020 -2021, ICSE fee structure, the term fee and tuition fee was levied separately. Accordingly, the term fee was ₹11,340 for the year whereas the tuition fees was ₹67440 for the entire year. This academic year, the fees include tuition and term fee and the sum total levied is ₹83460. Parents present at the protest further stated that advance approvals have already been taken by the management to hike the fees for 2023-24 by 15% which is illegal.

President of Navi Mumbai Parents Association, Sunil Choudhari informed, “As per the Fee Regulation Act 2011 (FRA) any fee hike to be implemented, approvals are to be taken from the existing executive committee PTA, six months before the beginning of the academic year.”

Towards the afternoon, principals and vice-principal from ICSE, CBSE and CIE boards came over to have a word but it failed to yield any results. “The matter is sub judice and whatever decision the court takes will be abided by the school. In case of parents having issues for fee payment, it has been regularly conveyed that a workable decision can be taken on one-to-one basis,” said the management while addressing the agitated parents.

With the matter not seeing an end, Seawoods senior police inspector Ravindra Patil and a representative from Nmmc education department arrived to resolve the protest.

By 5 pm, a team compromising principals of all the three boards, delegation of parents in presence of the police and NMMC official convened a meeting on the ground floor conference room of the school. Post the meeting the civic official detailed out the resolution taken. “ We have asked the management to submit the basis in which it has come to hike fees by 26%. School has been asked to display the name and contact details of the PTA members of all standard and boards. The management is also to display the fee structure. Details have been sought of wether 15% discount as directed by the court on fees has been extended or not,” Informed the official.