Parents’ association demands school fee waiver amid lockdown

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangha members Wednesday sat on protests at their residences for seven hours seeking school fee waiver for three months amid ongoing lockdown.

Members of the association urged the Chief Minister to intervene and issue a directive to all private schools in this context.

“Private schools should not to charge fees in advance, tuition fee, illegal readmission fee and other miscellaneous fees and charges because of the severe hardship and economic loss to the public owing to COVID-19 outbreak,” the association said.

Chairperson of the association Basudev Bhatt said, “We have received thousands of complaints from different parts of Odisha regarding illegal fee hike, illegal readmission fee, annual fee, bus charges during ban period and pressure to purchase books.”

He went on to add that these hikes violate the rights of parents.

“The private schools’ association is very strong and obliges officials in various ways. All the district level officers are attached to private schools and take liberties as they please. We have been harassed by them since long,” Bhatt added.

Aggrieved parents further claimed that they have already written to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and School and Mass Education minister Samir Ranjan Dash about the situation without much success. They threatened to disrupt the lockdown if their demands are not met.