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Parents protest against school asking for tuition, admission fee in Ludhiana
The parents also claimed that the school is charging thrice the amount for books, compared to the market rates
Flouting social distancing norms, over 100 parents held a protest outside Merry Mint Public High School, Amar Nagar, on Tuesday, alleging that the school authorities had been them asking to pay the tuition and admission fee for April and May.
They wrote a letter to Punjab education minister Vijay Inder Singla, urging him to waive the fee for the two months. The parents also claimed that the school was charging thrice the amount for books, compared to the market rates.
Gurpal Nagar resident, Rajni Khurana, whose son and daughter are enrolled in Classes 1 and 2, said, “We are asking the authorities not to charge the fee as the schools have been closed due to Covid-19. Since all the assignments are being sent online, what is the need to purchase books at this time of financial crisis? Moreover, they are charging three times the market price.”
Another parent, Kulvinder Kaur, who has three children studying in Classes 4, 8 and 10, said, “The school administration is neither reducing the fee nor waiving it. They should at least consider reducing the tuition fee to half. When we met the principal, she offered to reduce it by ₹200 per month, which is not enough. Schools should not be charging for the services they have not provided for the last two months.”
Principal Harpreet Kaur could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.
LIP, STUDENTS PROTEST AGAINST PRIVATE SCHOOLS
Slamming the state government for its failure to act against schools asking parents to submit the fee along with transportation charges for April, May and June; members of Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) and a few students of different schools staged a protest outside the deputy commissioner’s (DC) office on Tuesday.
The students were holding placards, urging the state government to announce school fee waiver rather than announcing free smartphones for them. They claimed schools were warning them of their names being struck off the school rolls if the fee was not paid
LIP chief spokesperson Gagandeep Singh Kainth said, “The state government has failed to pay heed to the problems being faced by parents. Families are facing trouble catering to their daily needs and the schools are demanding fee for three months. How can parents pay such lumpsum amounts at this time of crisis?”
“The government should announce that no school should charge fee in the lockdown period,” he added.
The protesters submitted a memorandum regarding their demands to the additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Iqbal Singh Sandhu.
