KOCHI: The parents of the students of Toc-H have registered a Parents’ Association by the name Toc-H Public School Parents’ Association (TOPSPA) on Wednesday. The Association, which comprises the parents of more than 2,000 students, was formed to protest the school management’s on-going unreasonable and unethical huge increase in the students’ fees every year for the past five years, said the office bearers of TOPSPA.
The school has increased the fees by over 345 per cent in less than five years and 40-75 per cent this year alone. Though the fees collected increased over the years, there has been no concomitant increase in the facilities at the school, alleged the parents. “Many of the recently constructed buildings, we believe using funds collected from us, are being rented out to banks and other offices or even as residential flats but the benefits never get to the students or the school. After diverting about half of the students’ fees collected from parents to Trust and various other accounts and not employing the money for the benefit of the school, the management is falsely claiming that the school is running at loss and and increases fees every year,” the office bearers said. The parents further added that until 2010 the school had a fee structure on par or lower than most of the similar privately managed CBSE affiliated schools in Kochi and many of them admitted their wards then considering the affordable costs. “We have drafted letters which will be sent to the Collector and director of CBSE,” said TOPSPA representatives.