NASHIK: After the Rasbihari International School's (RIS) management refused to meet parents on Tuesday to discuss the school's fee hike, anguished parents gave an ultimatum of 20 days for withdrawal of the hike, failing which they threatened to launch an agitation and move court. Parents who arrived at the school on Tuesday were greeted with a notice board that said that since the issue was pending with the education department after parents complained about the fee hike and the school had filed its reply, there was no point in holding the meeting.
Parents have given the school an ultimatum of 20 days to roll back the fee hike. They have warned of an indefinite hunger strike and threatened to move court if the RIS management does not roll back the fee hike.
"We have given an ultimatum of 20 days to the school to roll back the tuition fees. Otherwise, we will resort to an indefinite hunger strike in front of the school from June 13 and will also move court on the issue," members of the parents' committee Harish Jain and Suresh Desale said. The parents assembled at the school also decided against paying fees till a decision was taken by the education department of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC). Jain added, "The school management at the eleventh hour cancelled the meeting, claiming that the issue was pending with the NMC's education department. Hence, we have decided not to pay the fees until a decision is taken by the education department."
The school management declined to comment on the issue, saying that their stand had been mentioned in the notice board put up at the entrance of the school. The notice board featured this message, "On May 15, parents had complained to the education department of the NMC against the school over the fee hike issue. Accordingly, the department has issued a written notice to the school in this connection on May 19. The school has also replied to the notice over the issue. Hence, it will not be proper to hold a meeting as the matter is now pending with the education department."
Desale said, "A meeting had been scheduled on Tuesday over the fee hike issue, but the school management is not ready to hold talks with parents. Our objective is to solve the issue through dialogue and discussions, but they didn't reciprocate. The school management is not being accountable."
It may be recalled that on April 30, parents of children studying in RIS, who had come to school with their wards to collect report cards, had staged a rasta roko on the MERI-Mumbai-Agra national highway (NH3) link road after they came to know about the hike in tuition fees from Rs 1,900 to Rs 3,100 per month. Their demonstration was temporarily suspended after police officials intervened and spoke to the parents and the school administration. A decision was taken for joint meetings on the issue between the school chairman, trustees and parents on May 22.
The school fees, which were Rs 600 per month in 2006-07, have been increased to Rs 3,100 a month in the year 2012-13. Fees were increased to Rs 800 a month in 2007-08, Rs 900 a month in 2008-09, Rs 1,200 a month in 2009-10, Rs 1,400 a month in 2010-11, Rs 1,900 a month in 2011-12 and to Rs 3,100 a month for the academic year 2012-13.
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