Parents renew demand for ordinance against ‘arbitrary’ school fee hike

BHUBANESWAR: Parents in Odisha reiterated their demand for an ordinance on fee regulation in unaided private schools.
Parents across the state staged protests in front of the district collectors’ offices demanding the formulation of an ordinance to check alleged arbitrary and exorbitant fee hike by unaided private schools. “We are suffering owing to the exorbitant fee hike by private schools. More than 15 lakh families are affected by the fee hike. Some schools are increasing annual fees by 10% to 50%. With the government having no control over the schools, they are fleecing parents,” Basudev Bhatt, chairman of Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangha (OAM), said. The parents in their memorandum said states like Punjab, Gujarat, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh had laws to regulate private schools. “We are requesting the government to pass an ordinance for fee regulation in unaided private schools,” Prasanna Bisoyi, co-chairman of OAM, said.
“Even during the pandemic, schools are not ready to waive fees,” the parents alleged. “It has been found that online classes are of low quality,” they added. The parents said they had appealed to the government several times in this regard but no action had been taken. “It is high time the government passes an ordinance,” Bhatt said.