Noida parents protest ‘absurd’ pay hike in DPS, GB Nagar

Over 150 parents protested in front of Delhi Public School, Gautam Budh Nagar, in Sector 132 demanding a rollback of the 14% hike in school fee.

Over 150 parents protested in front of Delhi Public School, Gautam Budh Nagar, in Sector 132 on Monday, demanding the school management roll back the 14% hike in school fee.

Parents stood outside the school in Sector 132 on Monday, demanding rollback of the 14% hike in school fee. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

DPS, GB Nagar, has increased the annual charges, tuition fee and technology fee by 14% from April 1 citing the introduction of 7th pay commission by the central government.

The cabinet approved the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations for central government employees on June 29. If implemented, the recommendations will come into retrospective effect from January 1, 2016.

However, many parents termed the 14% hike, as per the 7th pay commission, absurd and demanded the school management reintroduce the old fee structure.

“In the past two years, DPS has already hiked the fee by 28%. Now they have increased it further by 14% from April 1. The entire hike in three years works out to a staggering 42%. How can a private school include teachers in the 7th pay commission? We have demanded that the school authority roll back the hike in fee,” said Vishal, a parent.

“Along with tuition fee, they have also hiked the annual fee and the ‘technology’ fee. As per Central Board of Secondary Education norms, a school cannot hike its annual fee on a yearly basis. Yet, DPS has been doing it for the past three years,” he said.

Many parents alleged that the school management has not been responding to the objections from parent bodies.

“We have been protesting against the unjustified hikes for the last two-three years. There is no clear response from them (school management). Schools are free to increase their fee once in three years, but a yearly hike is totally unjustified,” said a parent on condition of anonymity

DPS Principal Indira Kohli said the school management has heard the woes of parents and has taken a decision that “if the 7th pay commission is introduced, we will keep the same fee structure (the hiked one) and if the commission’s recommendations are rolled back, we will refund the hiked fee to parents.”