After 2 mths of protests, school says fee hike was ‘optional’

Parents in Ulhasnagar have been protesting against a steep fee hike by New English High School and Junior College. The school claims that the increase is for upgrading infrastructure and is optional to pay, but parents deny being spoken to about this. The school has also faced other allegations, including beating up students for not paying the fee. The school's trustee says that the fee increase was approved by the Parent Teachers Association and that 70% of parents have already paid. An inquiry is being conducted by the local education officer.

Thane: Nearly two months since parents started protesting the steep fee hike by New English High School and Junior College, in Ulhasnagar, the institution broke its silence on Thursday to state that the ₹15,000-increase (from ₹4000) was to upgrade the school’s infrastructure, with the consent of parents who are part of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA). It added that paying the hiked amount was optional.

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The management put out the clarification after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) staged a protest at the school and nine people were arrested for vandalising the property on Wednesday afternoon. They were released on a bail of ₹15,000 by the local court on Thursday.

However, the impasse between the two opposing sides continues as parents have denied the school’s claim that they were spoken to. Sachin Tambekar, whose niece and a nephew are students of the school, had headed the protest last month. He said, “The school never discussed the optional factor earlier. Why would we protest otherwise? We had been speaking to them to make it optional, but were yet to receive a confirmation. Also, we condemned the MNS attack on the school. Our children were inside and scared after the incident. Primary school students were in the middle of their exam at the time of the attack.”

The school’s trustee, Prakash Gurnani, said, “This is a 60-year-old school, which does not charge fees for the aided section. The hike was mandated after PTA’s approval. Almost 70% of parents have paid the fees. No government aided school has such facilities like ours.”

Meanwhile, the school has been in the eye of the storm for other alleged lapses.

Last month, BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad led protesting parents to the institution when a case was registered against it for beating up students for failing to pay the hiked fee. Parents of nearly 7,000 students who come from lower middle-class milieu had opposed the hike.

Gurnani said the case against a teacher for beating up a student was false. “She was one of the best and most loved teachers. We have been portrayed in a wrong way. We are continuing to have dialogues with parents to work out solutions that would be amenable to both of us,” he said.

Sagar Gupta, the parent whose son studying in Class VI was allegedly beaten up by the teacher, denied receiving any communication from the school about the “optional” hike. “We had just received a message on the parents WhatsApp group indicating the change in fee structure and were asked to pay up within a time frame. We are continuing to receive the same messages.”

Lalita Dahitulye, education officer of Zilla Parishad, said, “We have been asking the school to produce the papers relating to the government aid and have initiated an inquiry. The school officials have not submitted any documents so far. We will take necessary action once the inquiry is complete.”