Reply in 15 days to complaints of fee hike: Officials to Noida’s Khaitan School

In a circular sent by DIOS PK Upadhyay on February 26, the school management was forwarded the complaints made by parents regarding fee hike and asked to send a reply within 15 days.

The district inspector of schools (DIOS) has asked the management of the Khaitan School in Noida to reply within a fortnight to complaints made by parents alleging arbitrary fee hike in violation of the Uttar Pradesh School Fees Act.

The district inspector of schools (DIOS) has asked the management of the Khaitan School in Noida to reply within a fortnight to complaints made by parents alleging arbitrary fee hike in violation of the Uttar Pradesh School Fees Act.(HT File Photo/Representative Image)

In a circular sent by DIOS PK Upadhyay on February 26, the school management was forwarded the complaints made by parents regarding fee hike and asked to send a reply within 15 days.

“This is to bring to your notice that two parents of your school have approached me with a complaint of violation of the Uttar Pradesh Self Finance Independent Schools (Regulation of Fees) Act by your management. You have been asked to reply within 15 days to the queries of the parents and in case of no answer, the school management will have to be present before the district fee regulatory committee,” Upadhyay wrote in the letter.

The circular comes in the wake of repeated protests made by parents’ associations against The Khaitan School’s management, accusing it of hiking school fees in an arbitrary manner.

The general secretary of all Noida school parents’ association, E Arunachalam, said, “The parents of The Khaitan School have two grievances. First, the school management hiked the fees by 24% in their cumulative fee structure and second, they did not give the complete breakdown of their fee structure, including teachers’ salary, on their website. Both are violations of the UP School Fee Act.”

The action by DIOS comes after Apeejay School, located in Noida’s Sector 16 A was fined ?1 lakh and asked to roll back hiked fees and return money to parents, after continued protests. Bal Bharati and Cambridge schools were also asked to roll back hiked fees in 2018.

Introduced in August, 2018 as an Act, the Uttar Pradesh Self Finance Independent Schools (Regulation of Fees) Act has provisions to form a district fee regulatory committee headed by the district magistrate.

Replying to the allegations, a representative from The Khaitan School management said, “Parents are all in league with the workings of the school management, which is in complete cognizance of the Uttar Pradesh School Fee Act. Whatever queries we have from parents are being answered to on an individual level by the management. The accusations in media reports are baseless.”