Parents protest fee hike

CHENNAI: Though the city has witnessed numerous protests from parents condemning arbitrary fee hike by private schools in recent days, yesterday’s protest could well be a sign of changing times. Parents from elite and upper middle class background too hit the streets in huge numbers criticising the A-School for collecting hefty fees.The women, dressed in expensive saris and salwar suits and carrying costly mobile phones, and the men in executive wear gathered at the premises of Rani Seethai Hall to question the management for allegedly adopting unscrupulous method to collect fees.“They forced my child to wait outside the classroom for the past two days because we refused to pay the arbitrary fee hike of the school management,” said Sridhar, a parent.The school, managed by the Chettinad Foundation Group, runs classes from play school up to second standard. Though Raviraja Pandian Committee announced a revised fee structure for private schools, the management reportedly told the parents that they do not come under the purview of the committee, the parents gathered at the premises told City Express.In a year, they collect around `6,500 for LKG students, but they teach only for three hours a day. Besides, many schools run by them in other parts of the city do not have proper classroom and toilet facilities,” claimed Nalani, a parent from Anna Nagar.“We need to pay an admission fee of `9,100 and a term fee of `27,000 for three terms in a year. Then, the management collects `6,200 for distribution of notebooks, but they never distribute them,” said Selvaraj, a businessman whose child is studying in LKG at the school.“I have studied in Tamil medium schools in rural areas. I have admitted my child in this school hoping that he would get the best education. But the management is using this as an opportunity to swindle money,” he said.What has irked most of the parents is the `3,200 that the school charged for providing extracurricular activities. “From this academic year, the management started collecting extra money stating that they are going to train our students in various activities like abacus, master chef, yoga and dance. Are they out of their minds? They are cheating us saying that they are going to train our children who are studying in play school in abacus and yoga,” said the parents.“We raised objection to this and requested the management to hold a parent-teachers’ meeting but they did not listen to our grievances. Instead, they sent out an SMS saying that if anybody failed to pay the fee in July, we need to pay a fine of `50 every day,” said Krishna Murthy.The protesting parents demanded to have a talk with the management, but the management sent a policeman who had told the gathering that the management can speak only with five people at a time and they can come in batches and speak to them.Outraged, the parents left the premises and lodged a complaint with the city police commissioner to take action against the school.