At a press conference held in Sector 33, Noida, on May 15, the All Noida School Parents Association (ANSPA) demanded that the 9-member committee formed by the Uttar Pradesh government over school fee hikes on May 9 be headed by a retired high court judge.
The committee was constituted by Jitendra Kumar, principal secretary, secondary education, to suggest ways to curb the commercialisation of education and excessive fee being charged from students in private schools in Uttar Pradesh.
ANSPA’s main objection was on the appointment of Om Pathak as the member of the committee to look into private secondary schools. Pathak is the chairman of DPS Ghaziabad society.
K Arunachalam, general secretary of ANSPA, told City Spidey, "This is not fair. We are very disappointed at the committee's constitution. Om Pathak, who has at least three schools of his own running in the region, has been nominated. We demand that he be removed from the committee."
Some of the other demands by ANSPA are as follows:
- One parent should be included in the committee as there is no one to represent the parents.
- The Chief Minister should formulate not a state level but commissionerate (mandal) level committee so that parents’ concerns can be raised mandal-wise.
- Many schools have been given land at a price as low as Rs 1 per square yard by the Noida and Greater Noida authorities on the condition that they will admit children of farmers and from economically weaker sections in their schools. However, none of these schools are admitting such children. Hence, the CM should ensure that such children are given priority during the admission process.