Forced to buy books from schools in Gurgaon despite curbs: Parents

GURGAON: Even though the directorate of secondary education has issued a notification against the practice, private schools in the city continue to force students to buy books, stationery and uniforms from them or their empanelled vendors, parents alleged.
Under rule 6 of the Haryana School Education Act, schools should provide parents with details of books and stationery required for the session beforehand so that they can source them from other places.
The directorate of secondary education issued a letter on April 7, “If a complaint is received against any recognised private school regarding violation of this rule, action will be taken against it as per the Haryana School Education Rules 2003.”
Parents, however, claimed that the notification was released after schools had already started their sessions and they had to face all unfair practices of schools.
A parent of a student studying at St Xavier’s School in Sector 81 told TOI, not only were they forced to buy textbooks and notebooks, but also pay Rs 20 per for binding them.
Nicholas Gomes, principal of St. Xavier’s School in Sector 49 told TOI, “All these allegations are baseless. We never force parents to purchase books from schools only. We are well aware of the regulations, and we have informed the parents that they are free to buy books from where they wish to, though we do have our own recommended vendors for textbooks, stationery, and uniforms.”
A father of a student in a nursery class in Ambience Public School, Sector 43, said, “We were charged more than Rs 4,600 just for the stationery, on top of the expensive books that the school has listed as a part of the curriculum,”
“One day I got a call from the school that my kid’s book has been misplaced, so I need to pay another Rs 80 for the school to get him a new one,” he added.
He further said that the schools follow the same practice with uniforms too. They design uniforms in such a manner that one can’t get them tailored from somewhere other than a school’s vendor. Lyallpur School Uniforms is the supplier of the uniforms for most of the private schools in the city, he said.
When contacted, school management refuted the allegations and said they have provided parents with the list of books. Parents, however, claimed that the school did not provide a list until a week before the session begins.