Parents miffed at Edu Min for taking U-turn on fee issue

The Parents’ Association (Schools) here is up in arms against Punjab Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla for allegedly taking U-turn on fee issue. Parents posted their grievances on social media and burnt the effigy of Singla.

The parents said initially the Education Minister had made tall claims that no school would be allowed to charge more than the genuine tuition fees, and now under the garb of tuition fees, unexplained charges were being levied by the schools, putting unnecessary financial burden on the parents and this government was mum over the issue.

“I would like to ask the Minister to explain what is tuition fee? The so-called tuition fee has been doubled by many schools as they have added all other charges in it. Secondly, the schools claim that they are giving online classes. How can Whatsapp classes be online classes? The children are regular on phones for several hours. They are ruining their eyes. We, the parents, are ready to contribute money for setting up infrastructure for online classes. The schools should ask and we will pay, but the unnecessary huge financial burden is certainly not acceptable,” said Ghai.

Another parent said they were planning to move the Court against the school managements as the state government had failed to provide relief to the parents. “Now what is the vested interest behind this U-turn by the Minister, only he or the government know.s But we are not ready to pay unnecessary funds, especially when we are going through financial crisis in this pandemic,” said Ghai.

The parents alleged that through Facebook only, they had tried to reach to the Minister and were waiting for his reply. Despite repeated attempts, the Minister could not be contacted for comments.