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Pune-based school to face action over fee hike
The deputy director of education on Thursday issued a notice to withdraw the registration of Pune-based Aaryan World School, Warje. However, the school management has refuted all allegations made by parents and the education department
PUNE After several complaints and allegations of fee hikes and denying online education by the parents, the deputy director of education on Thursday issued a notice to withdraw the registration of Aaryan World School, Warje.
In an official letter, Audumbar Ukirde, deputy director of education, said that after several complaints from parents associations regarding various issues, the department has suggested taking further action in the matter. The education department conducted a separate audit of the school to look into the allegations.
“Despite the orders of no fee hike, it was found in the investigation that for the academic year 2020-2021, there was a fee hike done by the school. And the Warje branch of Aaryan World School does not have an audit report as of yet and the work on the same is ongoing,” said Ukirde.
The notice further added that despite several investigations at the school, the school staff failed to provide all necessary documents needed.
“It was also found that for Class 9 and Class 10, the Warje branch of Aaryan World School does not have a Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliation. And so appropriate action should be taken against the school,” said Ukirde.
Speaking about the notice, Prashant Khande, National President for All India Parents Students And Teachers Association (AIPSTA) said that audit reports are a must for schools.
“After several investigations by the education department and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) education department, it was found that the school does not have audit reports and has hiked the fee last year. There should be concrete action against such schools. Parents are facing a lot of issues because of schools overcharging fees,” said Khande.
Sanjay Botre, a parent whose ward is enrolled in the school said that last year the school denied online education to the children.
“Even this year, for almost two months, online education was stopped. The school wants to charge all the fees at one time instead of instalments. Many such problems have affected the students who are enrolled here,” said Botre.
However, the school management has refuted all allegations made by parents and the education department. Milind Ladge, managing director, Aaryan World School refuted all allegations.
“There are some parents with different motives who are behind the commotion. A few parents have not been able to pay the fee. We have submitted all documents related to the CBSE affiliation and we have received the non-objection certificate in 2017-2018 itself. With CBSE we are following up on the matter for some time now. Our legal team will look into this whole matter,” said Ladge.
