School stops kids from attending online classes, parents protest

Gurgaon: Parents of DPS, Sushant Lok staged a protest against the school management on Friday after it stopped nearly 500 students from taking online classes for not paying fees.
In the afternoon, around 20 parents gathered in front of the school campus. Riled up by the school’s move to not allow students, including those in class 10, to attend online classes, the parents wanted to hold a discussion with the management over fee waiver. They weren’t allowed to meet school officials, following which they staged a protest.
The school management was unavailable for comments, despite repeated calls and messages by TOI.
Parents said DPS unilaterally blocked access to online lectures for around 500 students from Monday. When students tried to access the portal to attend classes, they were told to “pay the fees immediately” for access.
“This is not only unconstitutional, but also inhumane. We are grappling with a pandemic that has disrupted everyone’s livelihood massively. Instead of discussing the matter democratically, they took such an authoritarian step,” said Deepak Thareja, whose two kids have been debarred from attending online classes.
“The school is not responding to our messages or calls. Schools must evaluate individual cases of parents and extend appropriate waivers,” argued Vijay Chaudhary, another parent.