Telangana: Pay fee & collect books, schools tell parents

Hyderabad: The tussle between school managements and parents does not seem to end. In the latest development, a few schools are insisting that parents pay the fee upfront and only then would they allot books to their wards. Some schools are also blocking online payment.

Rama Chary, a parent, said, "My daughter is pursuing BiPC second year in Sri Chaitanya Junior College at SP Nagar. We are unable to pay Rs 3 lakh college fee and informed the management. A fortnight ago they asked us to pay an amount that we could but now they are refusing to give books until the first term fee is paid."

Anil Yadav, who works with Tech Mahindra, says, ""Tuition fee for grade 4 students was Rs 64,900 last year in Pearson School at Kompally. This year they have hiked the fee to Rs 72,380. It is completely unacceptable, for online classes from 11 am to 3 am, they are charging this huge amount – it is not fair."

Some schools are collecting monthly fee instead of term wise as was the case all these years, but there are many who insist on term fee. Many schools collect fee in three or four terms. Ramachary says, "They are not even sharing the logins for online classes as we could not pay the fee around one lakh on the spot. Interestingly, though the classes are being conducted online, the chargers are same as we pay for the AC classrooms," he added.

Classes are online but institutions are still charging sum. There is a fee hike of about 15% than last year in Sri Gayatri College for MEC students, said P Praveena Kumari, Bank Clerk, Canara Bank.

Tuition fee of a primary class student is higher than the fee of a semester in autonomous engineering colleges, rue parents. Telangana Recognised School Management Association (TRSMA) in the meantime submitted a request to the Telangana Government to reduce property tax and subsidise electricity tariff.