School Punishes Students for Parents' Protest Over Fees

Parents of Ravindra Bharathi Global School in Medavakkam main road alleged on Friday that their children had been made to sit in the library for eight hours, a day after their parents protested excess fee collection by the school.

Parents of students studying in Bharathi Global School at Medavakkam staging a protest | Express

CHENNAI:  Parents of Ravindra Bharathi Global School in Medavakkam Main Road alleged on Friday that their children had been made to sit in the library for eight hours, a day after their parents protested excess fee collection by the school.

“We were not intimated about this until we reached the school to pick up our kids. It was upsetting to see them crying when we reached, some are as young as eight years” said one parent. The action taken by the school management was unexpected because just the day before, a meeting had been promised with the academic director, said R Gopal, secretary of the Parents Association of the school.

He added, “We have been wanting to meet the management to discuss various issues, including the lack of emergency exits in the buildings, no stability certificate and so on.”

He also claimed that despite government authorities fixing an upper limit of fees at Rs 40,000 for the lower classes and Rs 50,000 for the higher classes, parents are being charged a pre-KG fee of Rs 70,000 and high school fee of Rs  90,000.

“Nearly 50 of parents have been waiting in the parking lot ever since classes ended,” Gopal told Express as late as 9 pm.

He added,”We want a letter of assurance that this will not happen to our children again. But so far teachers have told us that students will be given a TC if we are not ‘satisfied’ with the school.”

Express could not reach the school’s management for comment immediately.