Parents worried as several schools announce Fee hike

Parents worried as several schools announce Fee hike

As many parents are waiting for the schools to announce fee waiver due to the lockdown, several schools have announced fee hike which has made the parents worried. Parents have also started an online campaign in which they asked the HRD Ministry to send directive to schools to not raise the fee until schools reopen again.On Monday, Gujarat government has announced that schools will hike fee for a year, the government of West Bengal has also appealed the schools to refrain from hiking the fee. "With no information when normalcy will return, when we could head back to our respective workplace is the question that remains unanswered and here, I receive an intimation from the school regarding the hike in fee. I was baffled that how would I be able to cope up? I am anxious to know about the school fee hike and transport fee hike which the school says is to meet the cost demands for the academic year 2020-21," said Pivit Joshi, whose son studies in a prominent school in Noida. He did not wish to identify the name of school. Jagriti Shukla, a parent in Gurgaon, said, "We understand the schools' concern that they need to pay salaries and cannot waive fees but at least hike can be avoided at such crucial time. Why the government has not passed any order in this regard?"Similar concerns were shared by Rajesh Kumar as he said that increase in the schools fee has added to his financial woes. "We are getting basic pay but the performance linked incentives have been suspended for the lockdown period. The appraisals have been deferred to next financial year but the school's fee hike is going on as per usual," he said.Governments of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh announced that schools should not force parents to pay fees during the lockdown.