Noida parents polish boots on road in protest against school fee hike

Noida Extension, 18th April 2022: In Noida Extension, a group of parents came to roads on Sunday to protest against increase in fee of private schools at Ek Murti Chowk. They cleaned boots along the roadside indicating the inflated fees.

Although the parents were from well-to-do background and professions like engineers, managers and so on, they stated that polishing the shoes would indicate that the increased fees would bring them on roads as their occupation have been severely impacted due to Covid lockdown.

The protest by the Noida Extension Flat Owners’ Welfare Association and NCR Parents Association started at 11 a.m. on Sunday. “Why this order to increase the cost after the elections when the Uttar Pradesh government announced before the polls that school fees will not be increased this year?” questioned Sukhpal Singh Toor, President, NCR Parent’s Association. On January 7, the government had passed the order to disallow schools from increasing the school fees.

The protesters were annoyed by the schools charging the fees from them despite having online classes. The schools have stated that the fee has been hiked due to increased operational costs and it is based on the consumer price index. Although the UP Self Financed Independent Schools Fee Regulation Act, 2018 states that the increased fee cannot be more than the recent annual increase in the CPI + 5% of the fee from the student.

Vikash Katiyar, general secretary of the NCR Parents’ Association said that schools have added ‘construction fees’ to the tuition amount. The parents have stated that in this inflated economic situation and the recent fuel price hikes, it will burden them more. The protestors have urged Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to revoke the order allowing schools to raise fees.