Hyderabad: Parents gathered outside a school in Hayathnagar on Saturday, to protest what they claimed was a fee hike of up to 50 per cent. The protest spilled on to the Vijayawada National Highway and brought traffic to a standstill.”We have been trying discuss the issue for the past month, but the management is not responding,” said a parent. Another parent added, “Last time when we scheduled a meeting with the management, they escaped and diverted us. But they did not give us any response.”Someone in the crowd shouted that the school was quick to send fines if fees were delayed, but when parents had questions, there was no response.A school in Vanasthalipuram had witnessed a similar protest just last week over the fee hike. Further, schools in Secunderabad and Bowenpally had doubled or tripled fees overnight, unlike the usual 10 per cent hike. The Hyderabad School Parents Association said schools were exploiting the delay in fee regulation. The Telangana Education Commission (TEC) had proposed a Bill to cap hikes.The draft, submitted in January, proposes to cap hikes and classify schools based on infrastructure, location, and quality. A committee was reviewing it, with discussions expected in the March assembly session. TEC also warned that schools raising fees beyond reasonable limits would become illegal once the law passed.However, parents at the protest site did not trust that fees would be regulated soon enough to help them. Some feared that schools would introduce hidden charges if they were prevented from increasing tuition directly. “We are requesting the government to take action,” a protestor said. Others worried about what this meant for their children’s education.One mother broke down as she spoke. Her child had been humiliated in front of classmates for unpaid fees. “If we don’t pay the fees, they won’t allow our children inside. My daughter was insulted in front of her classmates. She was told, ‘You don’t pay the fees, so you don’t belong here.”
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