BHUBANESWAR: Alleging inadequate measures on part of the state government in streamlining education and fee structure in private schools, the Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangh (OAM), a state-level parents body, on Saturday gheraoed the official residence of the School and Mass Education secretary and launched hunger strike for an indefinite period.Members of the Mahasangh who staged demonstration in front of the secretary’s residence, demanded fulfilment of their seven-point charter of demands at the earliest.
Alleging huge discrepancies in the current fee structure the government has set for the private schools, the agitating members said the government should fix the tuition fee in all 4,267 private schools on the basis of the facilities they offer to students. The members also demanded that the provision of 25 per cent EWS quota, kept for needy children till Class VIII in private schools, should be extended upto Class XII.
The protesters further demanded the weight of school bags be minimised for the children and the use of NCERT books made compulsory in all private schools. The members demanded Class X to Class XI be treated as class promotion and no admission or readmission fee be charged to ease the financial burden on parents.