Influential school management forces parents to deposit fee with all charges; parents didn’t get minister’s support

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Influential school management forces parents to deposit fee with all charges; parents didn’t get minister’s support

Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh

In a clear cut case of defying state education minister’s order, parents of students of class +1 who are seeking admission/ re admission in Patiala’s premier school- British Co-Ed High School Patiala ,were forced to deposit the school fees, with all the charges-annual fee of Rs 11800, admission fee of Rs. 16,500/-, Calendar & Christmas fee of Rs 600/-, Library fee of Rs. 1000/-, IAYP fee of Rs 1000/- and tuition fee of first quarters 14,500/- which comes out to be Rs 45,400/- .

Earlier the British Co-Ed High School, Patiala sent a message, through an email, and asked the parents of class XI to deposit Rs 88,900 fees at the earliest, i.e.before May,21,2020, in one go.

After royalpatiala.in yesterday highlighted this in its columns as “British Co-Ed High school defying ministers order; demanding full fee in one go”, the school authorities today morning released another order and asked the parents to deposit the whole year fee of Rs 88,900/- in two installments i.e. Rs 45,400/- today, by 4:00 pm and rest Rs 43,500/- in second installment, to be informed later.

But by afternoon, they again asked the parents to deposit Rs 45,400/- (along with all sundry charges) by 4:00 pm today and rest 43,500/- in three installments of Rs 14,500/- each on 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th quarter.

Some of the parents even deposited full fee i.e Rs 88,900/-, fearing the school might cancel their wards’ admission, as the school management is very influential.

“Parents were expecting a relief from state education minister Vijay Inder Singla, who belongs to Patiala and whose son Mohil Singla also studied in this school and the minister might have soft corner towards the school management”, said one of the parent on the condition of anonymity. He further added that “some parents had already informed the education minister about this issue. District education officials also know about this issue. The education department knows the school is defying openly the state minister’s orders and we have high expectations from the minister, who belongs to Patiala, to help us. But we all are heartbroken with this style of working of the state education department, district authorities, as we didn’t get any timely relief”

Other parent added that, “now its all gone, as we had already deposited Rs 45,400/- with all the sundry charges, fees and school will not refund us. If the minister had taken timely action against the school, then it would be a lesson for this school or all the schools, who defy the state minister’s orders and then the school authorities would not have taken this as granted. We have now lost faith in the education department, district authorities and the prevailing system.”

An ex student of the school added that” the school management is very influential, as most the wards’ of top functionaries, bureaucrats are studying here and nobody dares to question the school management, even about the violations they do”

“Despite of repeated warnings by the Punjab education minister, Vijay Inder Singla to all the private schools in Punjab to demand only tuition fees from the students, due to Covid 19 pandemic, this prominent private school is asking its students to deposit the tuition fee, annual fee, admission fee, Christmas charges and other charges, it’s a daring act of this school to demand this, as they knew well that nothing will happen against them as said by a parent.