Bhubaneswar: Parents threaten protest over offline registration in schools

BHUBANESWAR: An organisation of parents has threatened to stage demonstration across the state on Tuesday in protest against offline registration and filling up of forms of CBSE students from classes 9 to 12. The parents want the process to be held online due to rising cases of Covid-19.
As per Covid-19 guidelines online classes are the only mode to impart education to students, but private schools are demanding parents to come to school and clear dues, or else they will not accept registration for classes 9-11 and form fill up of classes 10 and 12, parents alleged.
“The schools are forcing parents to pay full amount to carry out registration and fill up forms,” alleged Basudev Bhatt, chairman of Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangha (OAM). The parents said as per a circular issued by the CBSE in April, fee-related issues in unaided private schools affiliated to the national board should be resolved by the state governments. Following which Odisha government has amicably settled the fee related matter with all stakeholders. “But it seems like a pre-planned move by these schools to explore the manual registration and form fill-up guidelines and collect fees forcefully during this pandemic. We want the CBSE to follow online mode, extend the registration dates and revoke fine for this year,” said Bhatt.