Hyderabad: The status-quo circular issued by the Telangana government on January 4 have not brought any relief to parents as schools continue to violate the government’s orders which said they could not hike fees for the academic year 2018-19 until further orders. Many schools even issued fee-hike structures on Monday, just days after the government asked them to maintain status-quo. Pallavi Model School in Alwal released its fee structure which clearly mentioned the fee hike for 2018-2019.
Upset with this, members of Hyderabad School Parents Association (HSPA) made a representation to district education officers (DEOs) and mandal education officers (MEOs) after they received many complaints from parents stating that schools said they had not received the government’s circular on the fee hike. MEOs, on their part, said they had sent the circular to all schools in their mandals through WhatsApp, adding that if schools continued to violate the orders, their recognition would be cancelled.
Venkat Sai Kadapa, member of HSPA, said, “Schools like International Baccalaureate School mentioned in its fee brochure that a 10 per cent fee hike can be expected every year. Other schools like Shri Ram Universal School, St Andrews School etc have also hiked fees. We have reported this to DEOs and MEOs but so far not received any reply.”
Chandrajeet Singh, a parent, said, “School managements have become very powerful. They do not care about a government order and carry on with their business without fear. The government needs to come up with stricter laws to deal with schools which do not follow the orders.” HSPA member Arvinda Jata said, “This irony repeating again and again shows how schools are indifferent to the directives or the circulars. It is time the government shows to schools that it is not a puppet in hands of private school managements.”
Secunderabad’s deputy instructor of schools Mr Venu Gopal said, “I personally sent the status-quo circular to all schools which come under our domain via WhatsApp, and also personally visited all the schools. If schools violate government orders, the authorities can cancel their recognition.”
