Yet another school hikes its fees. Parents gathered at Tau Devi Lal stadium in Gurgaon on April 14 to protest.
Hundreds of parents of Delhi Public School Ghaziabad (DPSG) gathered at Tau Devi Lal stadium in Gurgaon on April 14 to protest against its sudden fee hike.
Parents received fee slips with increased annual charges on April 13. Parents alleged that the school had more than doubled its fees. They demanded an explanation from the school and a rollback of the hike.
Despite several protests across the NCR, schools continue to increase fees with impunity.
Officials of the education department and civic authorities have so far not been able to provide any relief to parents.
Parents now plan to approach district education officials to obtain Form 6, which has the details of the fee structure and finances of the school. They threatened that if the DPSG did not roll back its fee hike, it could have a legal battle on its hands. “Earlier, we were paying Rs 65,000 annually but, with the new structure, we’ll have to pay Rs 1.62 lakh!” said Yashesh Yadav, a parent.
“We were paying Rs 7,750 as tuition fees, which has now been increased to Rs 26,000. Annual charges have been increased from Rs 5,400 a month to Rs 15,000, and development charges from Rs 825 to Rs 12,000. How can a school increase its fees so drastically without any prior notice to parents — and, on top of that, not justify it?” asked another parent, Harpreet Kaur.
The district elementary education officer (DEEO), Gurgaon, Ram Kumar Phalaswal, had visited the school on March 24 and assured parents that no hike would be enforced.
“Why are the authorities playing hide and seek with us? If the schools can’t increase their fees without the education department’s consent, then what’s happening, really?” fumed Bhupinder Singh, a parent.
Parents also demanded that the school share details of expenses. Some parents have also written to the director of the school education department.
The school had earlier told City Spidey that the hike was a “mere 35 per cent”. Deepika Sharma, principal of DPSG, was not available for comment.
