Five days for SSC: Fee not paid, school withholds hall tickets of twin brothers

Last year, some parents approached the deputy director of education (Pune) to protest against the hike in fee made by the school claiming it was illegal. “On October 13, 2015, the deputy director passed an order saying that the school should take fees only according to the fee structure prevalent in 2012-2013 and not the hiked fees. After that we tried paying the fees several times according to the old structure but everytime we were turned away by the school who refused to accept fees until the revised charges were paid. Since it was not legal, I persisted and asked them to follow the government orders. But the real reason behind their refusal to accept fees was known only last week when I approached them to ask why they hadn’t given my sons hall tickets and I was told non-payment of fees is the reason,” said Mahale. Arguing that under no rule can a school hold back an SSC student’s hall ticket, Mahale said he approached the local police station, officials at DyDE Pune as well as Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) to complain about the same.

“The government claims to have come up with so many schemes and counselling services to ease the pressure on Std X students but just imagine what my sons are going through,” said Mahale. Sandeep Chavan, secretary of the school’s parents’ union, alleged that the school was using pressure tactics on parents by announcing closure of the school from next year. “Hence in fear, many parents rushed to the school and paid hiked fee,” he alleged. School principal said that hall tickets might not have been handed over as she was not in school on Thursday. “If they approach me, I can issue hall tickets now. As far as announcement of shutting down school goes, we did declare it in our PTA meeting the reasons for which I cannot divulge at the moment,” she said.

Meanwhile, officials at both MSBSHSE and DyDE have issued orders to the school on the issue. “No school can hold back hall tickets and we have written to the school to hand them over immediately,” said Pushpalata Pawar, secretary of Pune division, MSBSHSE. DyDE Ramchandra Jadhav said he also instructed the school to follow government orders on fee hike and hand over the hall tickets to the two students.