Rosary School defends fee hike,says in tune with govt resolution on teachers’ pay

They also rubbished the claims of parents who were alleging that their children were being harassed by teachers for not paying the fees.

Ashwin Kamat,senior administrator,Rosary School,Camp,said,“The increase in the fees is in no way unjustified. We are following the last GR according to which we have to hike the salaries of all the teachers according to the Sixth Pay Commission. Hence the schools are allowed to increase the fees up to 50 per cent. Also,everything has become so expensive today,be it electricity,water or property tax. Our school does not depend on any sort of fund or donation from outside. Thus,we have to increase the fees to meet all these expenses.”

The school authorities have also alleged that a few of the protesting parents are pressurising other parents not to pay the fees. Kamat added,“A few of the parents had been distributing some pamphlets in the school today. When Ayesha Kazi,a parent of a class 5 student,who had gone there to pay the fees said she had no issue with the fee hike,she was pushed by one of the parents after which she fainted. We took her to Sassoon hospital,and later to the Bund Garden police station to report the matter.”

However,the protesters had a different story to tell. Ajay Sathe,one of the parents,said,“A few parents had gathered at the school today to inform other parents about a meeting that we are going to organise on Wednesday. We were simply talking to Kazi who had come there to pay her child’s fees,trying to convince her on why we thought the fee hike was unjustified. No one talked rudely to her or pushed her as is being claimed by the school authorities.”

Kazi,who is a patient of high blood pressure allegedly fainted and had to be taken to Sassoon Hospital. Even if Kazi was later taken to the Bund Garden police station by the school authorities,no complaint was filed.