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Parents’ protest over school fee spells trouble for Ludhiana commuters
Parents stated that they had deposited the tuition fee and will not pay the annual charges as the schools were closed and the children were not utilizing the premises.
Over 40 parents of students of Police DAV Public School protested outside the school and blocked the Hambran Road for around three hours. They alleged that the school authorities were forcing them to deposit the annual charges for last year as well as the new academic session.
Parents stated that they had deposited the tuition fee and will not pay the annual charges as the schools were closed and the children were not utilizing the premises.
The protesters also blocked the Hambran Road in protest. Commuters faced inconvenience as parents sat on the road and raised slogans against the school authorities. The police tried to pacify the protestors but the latter refused to budge, after which the police diverted the traffic to ensure its smooth flow.
The parents requested the school authorities to hold a meeting with them to discuss the matter but the authorities asked them to meet the principal one by one and submit an application. The parents said that if the school authorities will not address this issue then they will continue the protest.
Puneet Gupta, a parent, said, “My child is studying in the primary section of the school and the school authorities are demanding ₹8,600 as annual charges for last year and ₹9,300 for this session. We have requested the school authorities to waive off the annual charges. All the parents are ready to pay the tuition fee.”
When contacted, school principal Anu Verma was not available for comments.
Parents’ Association members stage protest
The members of the Parents’ Association, Ludhiana, protested at Bharat Nagar Chowk for two hours. They alleged that the private schools were forcing parents to deposit annual fee charges despite the schools having remained closed for more than 10 months last year.
They also added that the private schools were asking parents to deposit a hiked tuition fee. Rajinder Ghai, president of the association said, “The private schools are charging development charges while the children have not even utilized the smart classrooms and computers. Even though Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed schools to only charge tuition fees, parents are being compelled to pay other charges and many of them who have been unable to, their children are not been allowed to attend online classes.”
They submitted a memorandum with deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma and requested him to issue directions to private schools to not charge exorbitant annual charges.
