'As Parents Facing Job Losses, We Can't Afford Delhi Private Schools' Fee Hikes'

Producer: Varsha Rani

Video Editor: Purendru Pritam

After the pandemic, private schools in Delhi increased their school fees. This has added to the woes of many parents, who have faced huge financial losses over the last two years due to COVID-19 and are still trying to cope with them.

As parents, we protested against the fee hike, but nothing has happened so far. There has been no response from the school authorities or the Delhi government.

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I am a parent, and my child is currently studying at Delhi Public School, Dwarka. My wife lost her job due to COVID-19, and I faced a 20 percent pay cut at my workplace.

We were relieved when the Delhi government announced that schools could only charge tuition fees and not annual fees. The schools, however, did not agree to this and approached the court. They claimed that their resources were still being used and that they needed to charge full fees for the same.

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This is not just the story of one parent, but of many parents who are struggling with no increments, job losses, and major pay cuts as companies are unable to perform well.

Meena Chaudhary, a parent from Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj, said, "The school is adamant about its stand to increase the fees. These online classes cannot be compared to the facilities our children were getting when they were in school. There was an order from the court to provide 15 percent relief in the fees but it was ignored by DPS Vasant Kunj."

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In 2019, DPS was charging around Rs 92,000 yearly, and we paid Rs 7,000 per month. Now, in 2022, they are asking us to pay Rs 12,500 per month, with the yearly fee at Rs 1,50,000.

We are paying Rs 12,500 for one child, and with transportation, it will come to Rs 15,000 per child. This means that for two kids, we're paying Rs 30,000 as school fees every month. This is a huge amount.

"There have been no increments over the last two years. There have been job losses. I did not get any increment in the last two years because of COVID. We have complained to the Directorate of Education, and there have been multiple complaints against the school.

Ravneet Chada, Parent (DPS Vasant Kunj)

Ashish Sharma, another parent from Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj, said, "We have had emotional and financial losses in the last two years. I also had a salary cut. The companies were not doing well, but even with that, we were trying to pay the fees regularly. DPS Vasant Kunj has increased the fees every year. They are not understanding that parents are going through financial hardship."

In fact, the school has been calling and harassing parents, saying their fees are due. This is very insensitive, and we want to raise our voices against it. In some cases, they are also asking children to get their parents to pay the fees; this is very embarrassing for the child.

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"The school never gave us any prior information regarding the fee hike on email, the school portal, etc. Every time we tried talking to the principal, the school guard asked us to leave.

Kalpana, Parent (DPS Dwarka)

Our only request to the Directorate of Education and the Delhi government as parents is that they need to take this matter seriously and give us some relief.

The Quint reached out to the school authorities and the Directorate of Education but there has been no response. The story would be updated as soon as we receive a response. The parents of Delhi Public School, Dwarka, claim that a proposal was sent by the school to the Directorate of Education requesting a fee hike, but it was rejected. Delhi Public school, Vasant Kunj, however, did not send any such proposal.

(My Report branded stories are submitted by citizen journalists to The Quint. Though The Quint inquires into the claims/allegations from all parties before publishing, the report and the views expressed above are the citizen journalist's own. The Quint neither endorses, nor is responsible for the same.)