Parents of students studying in Senior KG at Carmel Convent High School, Kalamboli have alleged that the school was forcing them to pay the annual fees in cash, and at once.
These parents have to apply for re-admission as their children will have to move from the pre-primary section to the primary section. "We received a circular asking us to pay Rs 28,000 at once. The school has not given us the option to pay the amount in instalments. How can they expect parents with two or more children to pay such a hefty amount at once? Asked an an aggrieved parent.
They also alleged that the school was charging fees under various heads—admission fee, smart class fee, maintenance fee, etc.
"The school has also been forcing us to buy books and stationery only from them. Parents who want to use old materials are not given that choice. The school's fee structure is flawed," said another parent.
When contacted, the school authorities denied the allegations, and said they would accommodate parents who could not pay the fees as per the time table. "We have the re-admission process only for class I. This year we asked parents to pay only in cash because a lot of cheques that we received last year had bounced, and a few parents also did not pay the fees then. Being a private institution, our only source of income to run the school is the fees," said Nelson Lobo, school PRO.
Parents, however, do not consider this an assurance. "Last year too the school acted similarly, and that forced a few parents to move their children out of the school," said a parent. They have now approached the Forum for Fairness in Education, a non-profit organisation, for help.
Sometime ago, another group of parents had also approached this forum, raising complaints about a school in Nerul. They have alleged that Don Bosco School, Nerul had been collecting huge amounts of illegal fees under various heads. Authorities in that school could not be reached for their version.
"There are several examples of schools demanding unjustified fees. Why is the government silent on issues of fee hike? For more than 10 years, schools have been hiking fees. Numerous complaints have been lodged in this connection, but no action has been forthcoming," said Jayant Jain, president of the group.
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