Delhi's suburban private schools drop fee hikes after protests

Noida/Ghaziabad, March 17 (IANS) Private schools in the National Capital Region (NCR)- Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad - have withdrawn proposed fee hikes following protests by parents of the students.

Schools, including Delhi Public School (DPS) Noida, Kothari International School, Marigold Public School and Rockwood International School, have decided not to hike fees to pay arrears to the teachers, Anup Khanna, the president of Gautam Buddh Nagar Guardians Association, told IANS.

The school principals wrote to the association that although the schools are under 'severe stress' due to increments from 2006 in the payscales of the staff, and were forced to hike the fees to pay the arrears to the staff, they had withdrawn the fee hikes, Khanna said.

About 150 parents Monday held protests against the fee hike outside the Ryan International and Sommerville Schools in Greater Noida.

In Noida, parents have been protesting against the fee hike for almost last 15 days. Demonstrations were held outside the DPS as well as the Bal Bharti and Cambridge School in Noida. In Ghaziabad, a protest was organised outside the Dehradun Public School.

The parents demanded the schools restore the earlier fee structure and threatened to boycott the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls if their demands were not met.

'We are already going through tough times. Many of the parents have also lost their jobs during current recession. The schools, instead of understanding this, have passed off the entire burden on to us,' Khanna said.