Parents meet collector over fee hike, submit memorandum

SURAT: A large number of parents from different schools of the city gathered at the district collector office campus on Thursday morning to make themselves heard on the fee hike issue. Representatives of the protesting parents were allowed to meet the collector Dhaval Patel and submit a memorandum of grievances.
The parents from schools like Seventh Day Adventist School, Athwalines, Gajera Vidhyabhavan, Katargam, Ashadeep School, Varachha and Shardayant School, Piplod, also submitted a memorandum to the district education office. In the memorandum the parents alleged that schools are collecting fees as they please, citing previous year’s order of Fees Regulation Committee (FRC) but also charging extra money for other activities. They also alleged that apart from fees, the schools also insist on purchase of uniform and books from specific shops. They demanded that each school should form parents association which must be consulted by the school authrities before taking any fee-related decision, while school should teach from Gujarat board books.
The miffed parents also demanded representation in the FRC, which is currently headed by a retired judge and academicians. They also asked the education department to check qualification of teachers in self-finance schools at regular intervals. Till the time the government cannot provide schools with qualified teachers and best education, students should be given 100 percent subsidies in fees, they added.