Parents start hunger strike, want school fee in lockdown waived

Ghaziabad: Members of the Ghaziabad Parents Association (GPA) sat on an indefinite hunger strike outside the district magistrate’s office on Thursday over their five-point demand, including waiver of school fees during the lockdown period.
“Three members of our association, including president Seema Tyagi, are on a hunger strike for the last 40 hours outside the DM’s office” said Vivek Tyagi a member of GPA. “We have exhausted all options so as a last resort we opted for a hunger strike to press for our demands” he added.
The association in its letter submitted to the administration has sought tuition fee waiver from April to June, resumption of online classes of students who have been barred as their fees were not paid and regularization school fee among other demands.
“We have been running from pillar to post urging schools and the district administration to be reasonable in demanding school fees at a time when the pandemic has wreaked havoc. Even after a couple of meetings and discussions there was no solution. Schools are putting pressure on parents to pay up the pending fee and have even barred children from online classes after many of the parents failed to deposit the fee,” said Seema Tyagi, president of GPA who is on a hunger strike.
“We will not budge from our stand till our demands are met” she added.
Meanwhile, officials from the district administration met the agitating members and tried to convince them to call off the strike but to no avail. The administration had also sent a team of doctors to ascertain health conditions of agitating members.
“Health parameters of the GPA members on strike are good. We have assured them that their demands have been forwarded to the state government and a decision would be taken soon, so they must call off the strike but they didn’t relent,” said an official from the district administration. “We have told the members that the District Fee Regulatory Committee is doing all it could do to rein in the schools,” the official added.