VIJAYAWADA: The incident of a 37-year-old woman’s suicide attempt by jumping into River Krishna from Prakasam Barrage on Monday night created a flutter in the city. She had alleged harassment by a private school that charged exorbitant fees. The woman, Kalyanam Suneetha (37)–a resident of Moghalrajpuram in Vijayawada, reportedly came to the barrage alone around 6 pm on the day. She was upset after the management of Moghalrajpuram branch of Narayana IIT Olympiad School allegedly did not allow her son, a Class 9 student, to continue schooling for non-payment of second term fees. Suneetha said she was insulted by the school management, which threatened to issue her son a transfer certificate (TC) when she demanded an explanation from the management.
According to Suneetha, the management collected Rs 85,000 as fees from Class 9 students and an extra amount for books and school uniform. While joining the school on June 22, Suneetha had paid Rs 5,000 as admission fee and paid another Rs 20,000 a week later. In the first week of August, Suneetha received a phone call from the school and was asked to pay 60 per cent of the total fees immediately, failing which the boy would be sent home.
When she told the school management that she would pay the second term fees and demanded an explanation on school management’s rude behaviour towards parents, the school staff reportedly insulted her and asked her to admit her son in a government school.“My son has been studying in Narayana IIT Olympiad School for the past two years and we have never delayed in paying fees to the school management.
But, the school management showed no mercy and blackmailed us saying that my son will be sent home if I failed to pay fees by August 15. My husband went to the school twice to pay the said amount and returned home without depositing the money as the concerned person was not present in the office. It’s their mistake and now they are blaming us,” rued Suneetha. Only after the school fees were paid, the school management allowed the student and gave him his admission number.
Suneetha’s suicide bid was foiled by alert people present in the area. They informed the duty police officer about the incident and the policeman took her to the One-town police station, where she was counselled.
However, Suneetha alleged that the One-town police had colluded with the school management and tried to portray her as a mentally disturbed person.