Tirupati: Fleecing of parents by private schools goes unabated

Tirupati: Educating children in private and corporate schools has become a heavy burden on parents with the apathy of officials of school education department in monitoring the schools. Right from collecting huge donations from LKG to 10th class, the managements have been fleecing the parents in the name of various other things.

Private schools, majority of them corporates, have been taking the business of school education to new heights year after year by imposing heavy financial burden on parents encashing their aspirations.

No school has been following the government prescribed fee structure and collecting higher fees citing various reasons though they do not have even a playground. After paying thousands of rupees as donations and fees, parents have to pay for school uniform cloth which has to be bought from the school itself by paying the amount as decided by the school management.

Then the focus shifts to books which is another moneyspinning way for the managements.

They do not allow parents to buy books outside and will have to pay three to four times higher the price of books compared to the market and take them from the school office. Further, they charge for workbooks and study material by saying that they are specially designed to enrich the knowledge of students in that school.

Though they need to provide textbooks also, this time many schools were asking parents to buy them at private bookstalls. A father of an 8th class student told The Hans India that private booksellers were charging five to 10 percent more on MRP on each textbook.

Still, parents have to go around the bookshops several times as all books are not available at once.

“School managements should get the books and sell them to students which will save the time and energy of parents. But somehow, managements are not interested in doing so, much to the dismay of parents. What is the role of the DEO in such cases and was it not his responsibility to control this menace?,” he questioned.

Students unions have been fighting to change this trend every year but their efforts were going in vain. On Saturday, NSUI, AP student JAC along with a few other organisations called for private and corporate schools bandh in Tirupati criticising the attitude of the district education department. NSUI state general secretary Jenne Mallikarjuna and AP student JAC state president Hemadri Yadav said that the schools were not even having fire safety measures and buses with good condition.

They demanded the suspension of the DEO for his silence in taking action on schools though they have been fleecing the parents.

ABVP leaders have said that they have called for a state-wide bandh on the same issue on July 5 and said that it is time for the government to act tough on private and corporate school managements.