Dadar school reduces fee

While school managements across the city are busy collecting increased fees, a school in Dadar has reduced its fees, without even a request from the Parent Teacher Association (PTA). The Dadar Parsi Youth Assembly High School, Parsi Colony, has revised its fee structure and reduced the tuition fee to Rs750 from Rs850.

The school, which has a student strength of 2,000, sent a circular to parents informing them of the management's decision. “It was a very pleasant surprise that a reputed school like this chose to lighten parents' burden by reducing the fee,” said Jayant Jain, parent and president of the Forum for Fairness in Education, a non-governmental organisation.

“This is in contrast to the backdrop of the massive increase in school fees in most other private schools across Mumbai,” said Jayant Jain, parent and president of the Forum for Fairness in Education, an NGO.

Jain, whose daughter is in Std X, said, “If this school can be run on a fee of Rs750 a month [for SSC], then why not others? While the Delhi and Bombay high courts have been unanimous in criticising the commercialisation of schools and the resultant fee hike, such schools should be appreciated.” Jain is also a member of the fee-monitoring committee appointed by the government of Maharashtra.

When contacted, school principal Diana Pereira said, “We had raised the fees like any other school at the beginning of the year due to the sixth pay commission. But the government has not given any instruction to implement the new salary structure, so we reduced the hiked amount.”

A parent who did not want to be named said, “Unlike other schools, we did not have any trouble with the fee hike in this school. Their fee structure is very reasonable and they have reduced the fee without any request from us.”