New Delhi, March 27 Parents of students at Salwan Public School in Mayur Vihar staged a protest outside the Directorate of Education on Friday, alleging that the institution had withheld the results of their children due to what they termed as "arbitrary" fee increases.
Mohit Arora, a parent, said that the school had issued notices to more than 40 students, informing them that their names had been removed from the rolls due to non-payment of the increased fees.
"The school has neither released the students' results nor responded to any applications or notices submitted by the parents," Arora alleged.
However, school principal Richa Sharma Katyal denied the claims and said that no student had been barred from appearing in examinations, and that the results had been uploaded online.
"We have not issued physical copies of the results, but they have been uploaded on the website. Parents with outstanding dues from the previous academic year were notified that their children's names would be removed from the rolls for the next academic year," she said.
The protesters carried placards reading "education is a right, not a business," "Affordable education, expensive knowledge, how will the country become great?", and "Arbitrary behavior of private schools, failure of the government."
A protesting parent claimed that the school was demanding fee increases beyond their financial capacity.
"I do not earn enough to afford such a steep fee hike. What options do I have? Should I withdraw my children and ask them to stay at home?" he asked.
The school had issued notices to around 40 parents on Wednesday, stating that students' names would be removed from the rolls from March 31 if the outstanding dues were not cleared.
The notice cited Rule 35 of the Delhi School Education Rules, 1973, which permits schools to remove a student's name in case of non-payment of fees.
It also said that unaided recognised private schools do not require prior approval from the Directorate of Education to fix fees for an academic year, referring to various court judgments.
