Parents of six DPS Indirapuram students protested in front of the district Basic Shiksha Adhikari's office as their wards were not promoted by the school.
Parents protest against DPS Indirapuram
Enraged over the alleged expulsion of their wards, parents of six students of DPS Indirapuram staged a protest in front of the office of the district Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) on Thursday.
Parents said that the management of DPS Indirapuram had not promoted their children despite payment of fees. However, the parents added that that they had held back annual charges for the previous academic session citing it as illegal and unexplained in nature.
The parents further claimed that the school has made it clear that it would not promote the children if the annual charges are not paid. “Two of the children study in second standard, three in fifth standard while one child is in the sixth standard. We have held back annual charges which amounts to rupees twenty-two thousand per child annually. All the parents have paid quarterly fees of rupees nineteen thousand, seven hundred and sixty for tution, computer and smart classes. The school has held back the report cards,” said Aarushi Sharma, a parent.
The parents received support from multiple parents associations of the city. “We conducted protest against the high-handedness of the school. Annual charges are illegal and the school’s action against these parents is unfair,” said Priyanka Rana, president of DPS Indirapuram Parents Welfare Association.
In a letter issued to DPS indirapuram on Tuesday, Vinay Kumar (BSA) had asked the school to reinstate the students on sympathetic grounds while exempting them from paying annual charges.
The parents said that the BSA had assured them of action and said that he would make sure that the school takes in the children. However, this could not be confirmed by City Spidey as the BSA could not be contacted till this report was published.
However, DPS Indirapuram management maintained that the children would be let in only if the pending charges were cleared. Meeta Rai, principal of DPS Indirapuram, said that the parents had paid the partial fees directly to the school’s bank account and not at the school.
“Parents are supposed to pay the fees at the school. There is no question of promotion or issuing report cards as TCs (transfer certificates) had already been issued to the six children in August 2017. We however did not stop parents from sending children to school. They were allowed to attend classes, participate in extracurricular activities among other things over the last one year. We have also informed the authorities that we are unable to tolerate this any further,” Rai said.
On being asked about the school’s stand on annual charges, Rai said that the school has not received any ordinance in this regard. “If ordinances are passed banning annual charges, the school will follow them,” Rai further said.
