Hyderabad: Teachers highlight their struggles due to fee hike

Hyderabad : The lack of a fee regulation committee in private schools has always given a free hand to the school management in the city to increase the fee every year. This has not only caused hardship for parents and students but has also forced teachers to contact parents to collect unpaid fees, resulting in an embarrassing situation.

According to the teachers, the only solution is the intervention of the State government. Private school teachers pointed out that they are forced to act more like collection agents than as educators. In a few instances, their salaries are being put on hold and they are told by the school's management that there will be no salary hike if they fail to convince the parents to pay the fee.

Mohan Rao, a private school teacher said, “We are educators, not collection agents and it feels very bad calling the parents and asking them to clear their dues and informing a particular student in front of the class that his/her tuition fee is pending. Because we are unable to assist, the school administration has ordered that if we do not collect the fee, money will be deducted from our pay. This is happening because there is no control on the private institutions by the State government.”

“As a teacher, my job is to teach the students but not collect fees. Such instances can only stop when there is proper control on fees and this is possible only when the State government comes out with various solutions that may include conducting surprise inception in the school, coming out with a strict regulation on increasing the fee,” said Sravanti, another private school teacher.

“I do not have any option, other than agreeing to the management. While talking to the parents they harassed us many times. Teachers are not meant to collect the pending due, as that is the duty of the management. I feel that this is a never-ending issue, and it will be better if the State government comes out with a solution. Perhaps a few students can be given a concession, and as a result, parents and teachers will be relieved, and we will not be forced to call the parents,” said Shirisha, a private school teacher.

“We are facing an uphill task in convincing parents to get the pending dues paid but we cannot help as we are being forced by the school management. They are threatening to put our salary on hold. Last month when I could not complete my target, my salary was put on hold and this issue made me anxious,” said Anjali Rao (name changed), a private school teacher.