Parents in Ghaziabad on Tuesday went on an indefinite dharna outside the Collectorate to protest the unjustified fee hike by various schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
The parents organised the dharna under the banner of Abhibhavak Samajik Kalyan Samiti (ASKS).
“The school fee is hiked 10 to 25 per cent every year,” said Kiran Sharma, ASKS president. “They call it the annual charge, the building charge or the development fee, but according to Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, private schools can only charge a tuition fee. We demand a rollback of the unjustified fee hike immediately.”
Sharma said that parents are also forced to buy books, stationary and uniforms from schools at exorbitant rates.
Sharma told City Spidey that as per the orders of the Supreme Court and the state government, private schools are bound to provide free education to 25 per cent students from the backward classes and the economically weak sections of society. “Not a single school adheres to this rule,” Sharma added.
The group said that it would continue to protest till the schools met its demands. It has even sought the intervention of UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani.
Earlier, the group had given a memorandum to the district magistrate on the matter and said that if no action was taken against the schools that had hiked fees, it would be left with no option but to go on an indefinite strike from April 26.
