As parents of children studying at the Billabong High International School (BHIS), Thane, continue to remain against the school management over an alleged unjustified fee hike, the school says it might have to ask students to seek admission elsewhere if the parents do not pay the fees.
On April 1, the first day of the new academic year, six students were not allowed to attend classes due to non-payment of fees. The school has claimed that three of the six parents have now agreed to pay the fees and the school might have to ask the others to seek admission elsewhere.
"We will try to resolve the issue by talking to the parents, but we cannot let the students continue to remain at school if the fees aren't paid. We will have to ask them to look for admission elsewhere. Allowing the students to continue will not set the right example because soon five will become 50. We will allow the students to attend school until the issue is resolved," said Raj Grover, chief mentor, BHIS.
However, the parents have denied that only three of them have not agreed to pay up the fees. "Right now, we are five parents at the police station, who are waiting to lodge a complaint against the school. We have also received calls from around 40 more parents, who wish to join our protest in spite of paying the fees. So the school's claims are not true. Also, the school cannot ask the students to leave on this issue," said a parent.
Education officials and the Maharashtra State Commission of Protection of Child Rights also maintained that the school cannot ask students to leave due to a fee hike dispute between the management and the parents.
The parents have also alleged that there is an irregularity in the way the school functions and it is the lack of transparency that is stopping them from paying the fees. "If we are paying such a high fees, we must be able to see the results. The annual exam was preponed and held in the first week of March and after the exam, regular classes were carried for the same academic year. It was done so that the school could collect the fees for the next academic year ahead of time," said another parent.
The school has however, denied this. "The assessments (work sheet of understanding) were conducted as scheduled… The school wanted to have a kind of hand holding of students when they moved from one section to the other. A little recap of the current academic year and prelude to the forthcoming year's syllabus is being included in the Knowledge Connector Sessions," said a statement by the school.
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