Goa schools fee hike, creates furore

The parents of students studying in private management schools have finally decided that enough is enough. After witnessing a steady rise in school fees for the last many years, parents were now no longer in a mood to accept the latest hikes imposed on them.

The whole outrage of the parents was triggered by a circular proposing a hike upto around 78% in the fees of a Margao based private school.The ICSE board School issued the circular to the aggrieved parents at a meeting called by the school authorities which stated the steep hike in the fees.

An adamant school management has given birth to a committee of the parents which has decided to chalk out a plan of action to take recognized private schools to task over the same issue. The parents of students studying in such schools called for a mass meeting on March 26th 2009 at the BPS sports Club hall in Margao at 5 pm to discuss and debate the arbitrary fee structure being adopted by management of unaided schools every year. Various inputs and suggestions from parents will be accepted at the said meet which would then be handed over to the managements of the schools.

The parents are also mulling a central committee to represent themselves in dialogues between the government authorities and the school managements.

The school management is in the meanwhile justifying the steep rise against the backdrop of the expenses of the teachers salaries as per the sixth pay commission recommendations.

However a Department of Education circular dated February 24th had warned schools against imposing exorbitant fees without the departments prior approval before the academic year commenced.