BENGALURU: Members of Voice of Parents – Karnataka Association will protest at Maurya Circle on Sunday against the State Government and Department of Public Education for not coming to their aid during tough Covid times.
“I paid the first-term fee of my ward in June after he was not allowed to attend online classes. It was on for a few weeks, but was cut again as the school wanted me to pay the second-term fee too. The reminders for the third installment of fees have already come in,” said Ravi K N, whose ward studies at a private CBSE school. Parents continue to face the problem of denial of online classes to students for nonpayment of fees, said Chidanand, a member of the association. The Association has parents of private school students as members and most of these schools follow CBSE and ICSE syllabus.
The parents complained that private schools are collecting fees illegally on top of the tuition fee approved by the Department of Public Instruction. Majority of the schools have laid off nearly 25 per cent of their teaching and nonteaching staff, while paying only 50 per cent of the salary to the staffers who have been retained. Still, they demand 100 per cent fees from the parents, they said.
Parents demanded that the government should enforce provisions of the RTE Act 2009 and Karnataka RTE Rules 2012 to stop private schools from collecting illegal fees, prevent schools from cutting off online access to students, stop fresh admissions till further orders, and to instruct schools to recompute the fees and update details on SATS website.
They alleged that the government’s move to allow private schools to reopen is an attempt to favour the management lobby. They said that physical classes should be put off till it is safe for children and online sessions must continue compulsorily. The government cannot shirk off its responsibility and leave the parents at the mercy of private schools, they pleaded.