Hyderabad: Will only shell out tuition fee, say parents to schools

HYDERABAD: Parents of school students in the city said that they would not be clearing the first term fee unless schools adhere to government guidelines and collect only tuition fees.
Parents said that despite making several requests, school managements are forcing them to pay various other types of fees including transport, mess, activities, among others, in order to issue books and allow children into online classes.
“While my child’s tuition fee for the first term is Rs 42,000, the school is asking us to pay about Rs 56, 000 towards sports, labs, library, field trip among others. Why should I pay anything apart from the tuition fee when my son is not availing any of these facilities?” questioned a parent.
“Along with my son and daughter, two other children from the family attend the same school. If the school agrees to collect only tuition fees, I will pay immediately,” said the parent, a marketing professional. He added that it is surprising to see one of the branches adhering to all government guidelines while others don’t follow any.
Parents said that both teachers and administration staff have been calling them about paying fees so that they can collect books and join online classes. They also said that on one hand while schools are claiming that they have to pay salaries to teachers, the same managements are sacking teachers .
“We don’t have a problem in paying the fee, but the school can’t add everything into the tuition fee and force us to pay even mess and transportation fees,” said another parent, whose children are in class 4 and pre-primary section.
School managements, meanwhile, said that the fixed costs of schools are very high and added that their only source of income is fees. They claimed that while they could only collect about 45% of the first term fee, their total expenditure has gone up significantly due to online classes and to put in place precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.