Jaipur: Parents demand school fee waiver for 6 months

JAIPUR: A group of parents staged protests in front of the Cambridge Court High School and the St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, C-Scheme, demanding fee waiver and relaxations in online classes on Wednesday.
Around 200 parents gathered in front of Cambridge Court High School at 7am shouting slogans against the school demanding fee waiver. The parents want a fee waiver from April to September because of economic slowdown due to lockdown.
Chidrup Jain, a parent who participated in the protest said, “There is an economic slowdown and we are demanding that school should waive fees for six months. Also, we want a time limit for online classes that are affecting our children. More than 2 hours of online classes should not be held.”
According to the parents, school authorities did not meet them or allow them inside the premises. TOI contacted Cambridge Court school authorities but they were not available for comments.
Reacting to repeated protests in various schools in the city, education minister Govind Singh Dotasra said, “We will soon release the Standard Operating Procedure and advisories regarding online classes. The government is keeping a tab on protests and showing careful though in providing relief to parents regarding school fees. Let us sit with officials, experts from the field of education and we will soon come up with a plan.”
Another group of parents with similar demands protested in front of the St. Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, C-Scheme, demanding relaxations in fees.
Arvind Aggarwal, one of the parents said, “We want at least 50% relaxation in school fees. Every year we have to pay annual fees of around Rs 5,500 in which we want relaxations. We also want relaxations in online classes as everyone does not have laptops and smartphones.” St. Xavier’s School administration said, “School is not functioning at present due to Covid. However, the demands of the parents have been forwarded to the school governing body that will decide on the issues.”