Angry Parents Protesting Hike Fees By SBOA
A large number of parents of the students of the State Bank Officers’ Association Higher Secondary School caused a flutter when they gathered on the school premises protesting what they called “steep hike” in tuition fees for the ensuing academic year.
According to them, the school has obtained permission for raising the tuition fees by 10 per cent, that too once in three years. But even after raising the same last year, it had now announced a 50 per cent hike for the ensuing academic year also, they lamented. They also complained that the school was collecting tuition fees four times a year while other schools were collecting only thrice a year. They wondered why the management was collecting “development fund” of Rs 1,000 from all the students when “substantial amounts” were being collected as “donation” from children joining at the LKG level, year after year.
While the children of the SBI officers were given total exemption from tuition fees, why the fees for other children should be doubled, they wondered. They contended that though the school had been collecting very huge fees, one of the highest in the city, the basic amenities provided to the students were nothing to crow about. On the contrary, as against the norm of 40 students per class, this school had an intake of more than 60 per class, they alleged. Despite 4,500 students studying in the institution, even the toilet facilities were poor, they lamented.
