Parents in Haryana allege arm twisting by schools over fee

Sanjay Yadav

Gurugram, April 6

Hundreds of parents are a harried lot as city private schools have allegedly withheld results or refused promotion or issuance of transfer certificates to their wards asking them to pay charges other than the tuition fee. The parents, who have been protesting for over a month now, have moved to the local administration to seek relief.

They say while they have been paying the tuition fee regularly as per the Haryana Government directive, the schools on commencement of the new session have withheld the results of students asking them to clear the same 'dues' for 2020. The parents say that they are also not being allowed to withdraw their children from school without paying the money.

In list of protests being held across the city, high drama prevailed outside DPS School, Sushant Lok, as parents whose children's results were allegedly held up for these dues staged a protest today. At 11am the parents reached the school and protested for not being entertained and heard. Similar protests have been reported from schools like Lord Jesus School, Sector 5, GD Goenka School, Sector 48, Greenwood School, Sector 9 and Suncity School, Sector 37.

"We have lost jobs and will not be able to pay this fee which is illegal. The government clearly announced that only tution fee would be charged. Since last year, we have been telling them that. Now, getting an opportunity, they have withheld results not letting us withdraw our wards and blackmailing us. We have moved to administration and even the Chief Minister, but have got no help. Our children are under immense trauma," said one of the parents’ representatives, Tarun Sehajpal.

However, the schools have refuted allegations claiming they are acting as per the 30th June orders of the Haryana Government.

"The latest order of the Haryana Government which allowed us to calculate our fee, annual charges and other dues is duly uploaded on the school websites. It is not that we did not help distressed parents. In fact, the parents in real need came and met us and all schools made relevant concessions that we could. There is no valid order of charging only tuition fee. The parents who are creating nuisance are misled and misinformed. We are thronged with many admission applicants who did not pay any fee the entire year in previous schools and are now switching and want transfer certificates. Genuine cases can all approach us and they will be helped," said Col Pratap Singh, president, Haryana Progressive Schools Association.