Parents initiate protest as schools ask for complete fees at once

A group of parents whose children study in two renowned schools based in South Bengaluru had initiated a protest on Monday regarding the “exorbitant fees” at the time when the next academic year is about to begin in a span of less than a couple of weeks.

Parents revealed the schools were demanding for complete payment of fees by threatening to restrict their access to the online classes. A parent said, “The schools aren’t even giving us the option of paying the fees in installments. They want the entire fee in one go.”

General Secretary of RTE Students’ and Parents’ Association, B N Yogananda, asked the Karnataka government to intervene. He said, “A majority of the private schools function out of CA sites allotted by the government. They are harassing parents over fee payments. The government must act against them.”

The subject of fees had flared up in 2020 as parents raised the complaint that the schools wanted the payment of complete fees even though no offline classes were held for students from 1st to 8th grade. Considering the economic scenario, the government took over the issue and resolved it by declaring that schools cannot collect more than 70 % of the fees.

For 2021, the subject has again taken the limelight a few days post the government released the academic calendar for 2021-22, mentioning that the fresh academic year will begin with online classes from July 1 onwards.

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