Frustrated parents, fighting the school fee hike in Hyderabad, are now planning to flood Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, with thousands of postcards as a mark of protest.
“Let’s write to CM sir!” is in protest against the delay in submission of a report by the Committee constituted by the Telangana government, to consult and review issue of school fee hike, and schools raising fees before the government panel submitted its report.
The Hyderabad Schools Parents Association (HSPA) has already written and signed nearly 2000 postcards, which will be posted on April 23. The parent’s association aims to send over 10,000 postcards before the end of this month to the CM.
“If the CM does not have time for us, we will write postcards till he decides to meet and listen to our grievances,” Ashish Naredi from the HSPA said.
The committee, headed by Prof T Tirupati Rao, former vice-chancellor of Osmania University and with G Kishan, Commissioner and Director of School Education as the convener, has failed to submit the report on the constitution of the District Fee Regulation Committees (DFRCs), which was due on April 20.
The parents allege that the school managements have succeeded again in delaying the process and in spite of pleas by Prof Rao to submit their final recommendations, the school associations have asked for more time, reported The Hindu.
This came after the state government decided to form a new committee to review the school fee hike, stopping the notification of the new Government Order for the formation of DFRCs.
“If the government really wants to control fee, it should have first put a stay on fee hike for this year. Instead a new committee was formed. Now they have missed the deadline and asked for extension till May 15,” Ashish said.
In 2009, the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh government had issued GO Ms 91 on constitution of DFRC to regulate fees in private schools. However, at the time several school managements had appealed against it in the high court.
While the HC in its judgement had asked the government to make a provision for notifying the fees recommended by the DFRC, the then government had later filed a special leave petition in 2011 in the apex court challenging the HC verdict, according to the Times of India.
The Hyderabad Schools Parents Association (HSPA) took the case forward in 2015, against the state government.
On September 2016, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition of the government and directed the governments of the two Telugu states to constitute the District Fee Regulatory Committees (DFRCs) to regulate exorbitant school fees.
In January this year, the state government announced that it will bring a new GO to regulate fee in private schools after examining the new draft rules framed by the Director of School Education.
But within a month of the announcement, on March this year, the Telangana Chief Minister wanted to take a fresh look at the report.
The HSPA alleged that the CM’s office stopped the notification of the new GO formation after the Independent Schools Management Association (ISMA) met the CM, according to The New Indian Express