Mumbai: Parents protest after Dadar school bars entry of 40 students

Parents protested from 8 am to 12.30 pm outside the school in Dadar. Pic/Shadab Khan

The unending issue of unnecessary fee hikes has resulted in another wasted school day, this time for 40 senior KG students of the Sharadashram Vidyamandir in Dadar. On July 11, mid-day reported about the fee hike issue the school, which is asking parents to cough up '43,000 in fees. The fees were '25,000 last year.

The parents were told their children won't be allowed in the school premises because they haven't paid the by the school bus driver, while they were waiting for the bus with their wards. The parents then went to the school to lodge their protest, but weren't allowed to enter the premises. They were able to have a word with the management only after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers joined them in the protest.

While the school claims that out of around 60 students in the batch, parents of 40 children have not paid the fees, parents allege that the school has unnecessarily raised the amount.

No clue
Parents allege the decision to not allow the students in school was pre-planned, but still the school didn't bother informing them.

"On Monday morning, we had no clue that our children will face this situation. We were waiting at the bus stop with our kids, but after the school bus, arrived the driver informed us that the school will not allow our children to enter the premises," said a parent.

Another parent said, "After that, all parents along with their children reached the school, but there we saw that the management had already called for police protection. In the heavy rain, we were not even allowed to enter the premises to speak with the principal. It was after we approached MNS that the school allowed us to enter."

The protest continued from 8 am till 12.30 pm.

"Because of the lack of a regulatory body on the pre-school section, many schools are arbitrarily hiking the fees. We have spoken to the school authorities and in eight days, they will reduce some of the fees. Our party will aid parents of 40 students, by paying '5,000 each as part of their fees," Yashwant Killedar, zonal head of MNS in Mahim-Wadala.

School clarifies
While the school authorities remained unavailable for comment on Monday, school trustee SR Jadhav had previously sent mid-day a note to clarify the fee hike issue, after the July 11 report.

He said, "As per the education department's order last year, we have reduced the number of seats in junior and senior KG. Due to this, our expenses have increased compared to the income from the new junior kg batch, which has fewer students. So, we had increased the fees last year itself for our new batch and informed parents in a timely manner about the same.

We have not increased the fees this year."