For the first time, students from the Army Public School in the city filed a complaint against their school authorities for allegedly harassing them and terming them defaulters.
As many as 42 students of the school have been protesting against the collection of readmission fees after the school changed its name officially.
On Friday, the students and their parents sat outside the school gate and staged a protest after they were denied entrance on the school premises for non payment of fees.
“We were not allowed to enter the school on January 3 when school reopened after Christmas vacations. The Principal and teachers have been constantly harassing, abusing and torturing us mentally. We are only asking for a rightful explanation for the unilateral hike in fees and the collection of readmission fees in spite of the CBSE board instructing the school not to collect any such amount,” a student of Class 10 said.
The parents tried to reason with the school officials all through the day but when their pleas fell on deaf ears, they decided to take the help of the police.
“The police have refused to file an FIR by the students but a copy of their complaint has been given to the commissioner of education and he has decided to write to the police commissioner regarding the case,” said J Melquier Celestine, a parent.
Students have been issued Debar notice telling them to refrain from entering the school without paying the fees. In a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, school authorities said that no students were threatened but were merely advised to pay the fees.
“Purely on humanitarian ground, the school authorities have permitted the students to attend their classes with a hope that good sense would prevail upon these parents and they would pay the prescribed fees to avoid inconvenience with respect to these students.
The readmission fees of Rs 20,945 includes admission fees, registrations fees, security deposit, annual fees and tuition fees, out which the security deposit of Rs 9,000 is refundable.
Higher fee structure is essential to pay for higher salaries and upgraded infrastructure,” the statement said. However, the students said they were physically removed from the school by over 50 jawans who pushed them out of the gate and locked it.
When approached by Express, both R T Nagar police inspector and the Commissioner of Education refused to comment on the issue.