Dadar school asks parents to withdraw ‘fee hike’ complaint before admitting their kids

Dadar-based Indian Education Society has sent a legal notice to two parents in response to their protest against the school’s fee hike and asked them to issue an apology before granting admission to their kids for the next academic year.

A few weeks back, IES School had announced a fee hike for their primary section from Rs 24,000 to Rs 42,000 from the next academic year. Owing to the considerable fee hike, parents complained about the hike to the state education department, who ordered an inquiry into the matter. The fee is subject to change after the inquiry is over.

Meanwhile, the last date of paying the ‘hiked’ school fee was June 18. However, the school did not allow two parents, Srawani Kirtane and Ganesh Rane, to pay fees for their kids over their failure to respond to a legal notice sent to them by the school. In the notice sent to the parents, the school has accused the parents of misrepresenting facts and instigating others parents. It also mentions how they have to withdraw their complaint and issue a public apology to the management.

According to the parents, the school is targeting them since they were at the forefront of the protest against the fee hike.

They have also alleged ‘misconduct’ on the part of the school over not allowing their kids to continue schooling despite their willingness to pay the hiked fee. Their kids are progressing from Kindergarten to Std 1 (primary section).

When Mid-Day contacted the school, the school’s trustee Satish Naik said, “Nobody is being targeted. The parents were sent legal notices because they have misused the school’s name. They are calling themselves Padmakar Dhamdhere English Medium School Parents’ Forum (the name of the primary school where the kids will go), whereas their wards are just entering the primary, which is a separate school though under the same management. This is inappropriate, and we have legal opinion on it. Hence, the parents were sent a legal notice. And their wards’ admissions will be subject to their response.”

When questioned about how the school can deny admission, since it’s not permitted under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, he told the leading daily, “They can go to a school opposite our school if they have such a problem over fees. All other parents have started paying fees. But these parents are not paying fees and are spreading messages among other parents, instigating them not to pay. They are misguiding other parents.”