Parents protest against Bengaluru school's 'insistence' on canteen fee

BENGALURU: A group of parents, whose wards are studying at Greenwood High, a private school located at Sarjapur road, staged a protest against the school on Saturday for making canteen food  compulsory. They demanded that the school management withdraw the mandatory canteen food order introduced from the current academic year. According to parents, even if they send food from home, the school is charging them a fee for canteen food. 

“Even if the child is sent home-cooked food, the school is asking us to pay the fee for canteen food, which is why we are staging a protest against the school management,” said a parent.The parents held placards and raised slogans against this practice and demanded withdrawal of the policy immediately. “When we are capable of sending home-cooked food and do not want our kids to eat outside food, how can the school enforce such an order on us?” questioned another parent.

“Even during previous academic years, the school had the canteen food facility, but many parents were sending lunch boxes from home. For this, we were asked to produce a medical certificate and the kids who were bringing home-cooked food were made to sit in a separate room and have it,” said a parent. According to parents, this  year, the school has pegged the canteen fee at about `40,000 and told the parents that the canteen fee has to be paid irrespective of whether a child brings packed food. In a letter to the principal, the parents have stated, “Mandating canteen food appears against the spirit of Council for the Indian School laws. Moreover, till date, despite repeated requests by parents, the  food menu has never been shared, neither has any satisfactory resolution been done on concerns over the quality of food served.”

The parents also alleged that the principal of the school has not given any appointment for a meeting. 
When asked for the reaction of school management, a management representative replied, “The principal met a delegation of parents and lent a ear to their grievances.  

He has asked them to give a written application so that he could take a call and address each of their concerns individually. The principal has always been open and has met parents regularly. The fee hike is not as exorbitant as stated. We have, never in the history of Greenwood High, increased the fee by such percentage. The principal is meeting approximately 10 parents daily on a one-to-one basis as a regular process to address parents’ concern, if any.”