BENGALURU: Parents of students from Jain Heritage School in Hebbal protested outside the school on Monday, demanding to know why access to online classes was blocked. Many haven’t paid fees, waiting for a transparency in the fee structure and the breakup of the components, that they had demanded for earlier. “We are ready to make the payment. All we need is clarity about the fees,” said Aparna, president of the parents association. The management assured access to classes but went back on their word after the local education officer left the scene, parents told TNIE.
“Students of the same class have different fee structures. We were also told that the three installments were all tuition fees and had to be paid,” she added. She said that talks were going on from January about school fees and parents were surprised that access to online classes were severed suddenly. To know the reason, parents went to school, but even when three parents approached the school, the gates were closed and parents were left outside, she said.
However, Director of the school, Archana told TNIE that students had access to Zoom classes and that the school fees was declared on the website. “The fee breakup was sent to parents individually. We were responding to queries by e-mail. Parents have been asked to send a confirmation email about continuing in the school,” she added.
Mr Santosh Mookanagoudar, Management Representative of Jain Heritage School, “As a school, we are committed to providing maximum support to our parents during these tough times and in the last one year, we have extended financial help to a large section of them. The school is self-financing its operations presently and has to manage its own expenses in addition to salary costs. Our team has been working hard to try and resolve every query or complaint on a one-on-one basis. We only request them to put up their individual cases so that it can be addressed properly.”
SCHOOL ASKED TO PAY FEES, SAYS RTE STUDENT’S PARENT
The parent of an RTE student in Jain School claimed that her ward has been denied access to online classes for more than a year now. She told TNIE that it was because she had not paid fees since last year. “Each year, we had to pay Rs 38,000 fees but due to the pandemic, this year, the fee was reduced to Rs 13,000,” she added, while requesting anonymity. However, RTE seats are supposed to be free of cost. An activist said that the school has made violations in the past too and charged tuition fees.
The student’s father works as a driver at a private firm and the mother as a home maker. She could not pay fees for the previous year and while visiting the school regarding the severed access to online classes, was asked to make the fee payment first, she said. This is the case with both their daughters who study in two different schools. “Our children are good in studies, but for one year, both haven’t studied much.
They looked at other students’ notes and try to learn,” she said. However, the school’s director Archana, while talking to TNIE, denied claims of the school charging tuition fees from RTE students. “Also, no parent’s registered ID has been blocked to access Zoom classes,” she added. Archana said, “Three years ago, parents were allowed to enrol their children for additional activities where teachers were outsourced, for which one had to pay fees.”