Students, parents agitate at Lt-Govenor's house over fee hike

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) Parents and students of state-run as well as private schools Sunday evening protested outside the official residence of Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna the poor quality education of state-run schools and arbitrary fee hike by private schools.

A gathering of nearly 800 people started their protest outside Khanna's house around 5 p.m. Sunday.

The protesters carried placards and banners and continued their demonstration for nearly two hours before Delhi's Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely gave them assurance of a 'patient hearing' Tuesday.

Students of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools, many of them in their school uniforms, carried placards reading messages like: 'We do have fans in schools, but there is no electricity,' 'Our teachers don't teach us, but ask us to mop the class.'

Advocate Ashok Agarwal, who is also the national president of All India Parents Association, said they had three demands.

'We want the Delhi government to take over all the MCD-run schools. All existing state-run school should be upgraded to the level of Kendriya Vidyalaya,' Agarwal told IANS.

'We also want government appointed auditors to audit private schools. If they deem fit that fee hike in necessary, then they should go ahead with it or else forget it,' Agarwal added.