They said their prime concern was the gross violation of the NOC issued by UP's education department.
In order to put forth their problems, disgruntled parents from Ghaziabad on April 18 met a committee formed by the district administration to solve the problems that parents face with schools. Speaking to City Spidey, parents said the main issues faced by the parents was the gross violation of the No-Objection Certificates (NOC) issued to private schools by the UP's education department.
The NOC has provisions which prohibit private schools from collecting arbitrary charges, and selling uniforms and stationery items within schools.
"The agenda of today's meeting was violations of the NOC on multiple levels," said Ravinder Rawat, a parent. Rawat's children were issued transfer certificates by St Teresa school in Shalimar Garden due to delayed fee payment and raising the school's issues with the authorities.
Similar views were shared by Shivani Jain, president of All School Parents Association. She had been campaigning against similar atrocities by Presidium school and had faced rebuke on several occasions. "This time the administration had arranged a meeting from its end to listen to the parents' problems. We hope that our issues will be heard this time," said Jain.
Speaking to City Spidey, Nidhi Kesarwani, district magistrate of Ghaziabad, said a special committee had been formed under the guidance of ADM finance and revenue (F/R), District Inspector of Schools and Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) of Ghaziabad.
The DM further said the schools have been ordered not to charge any payment in the next 20 days and to strictly adhere to books prescribed by CBSE. "The school management told the committee that there were better books available in the market, but we have ordered to teach from the CBSE books only. Students who want to opt for other books can do so separately," Kesarwani added.
"We have also asked for justifications from the schools for the arbitrary charges being levied on the parents. The schools have to respond within the next 20 days. A report will be prepared after the schools provide the details," Kesarwani further explained.
