SILIGURI: Asok faces guardians’ fee salvo

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Siliguri, July 5: Urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya today faced the ire of a section of guardians protesting the fee hike in English medium schools in and around Siliguri.

Before walking to his waiting car in a huff, the minister told the protesters: “Don’t speak in such a manner. We have talked to your leaders and we are looking into the issue.”

Some guardians had shouted at the minister saying that he has failed to solve the imbroglio over the fee hike. “You have failed and so has your administration,” they said almost in unison.

The minister was talking to journalists at the PWD bungalow, briefing them on the meeting he had with the Jalpaiguri district magistrate and a four-member delegation of the Guardians’ Forum of North Bengal, which has been spearheading the movement against the fee hike.

This morning, around 50 members of the forum had turned up at the bungalow when they heard that Bhattacharya and district magistrate Vandana Yadav were in a meeting. Later, Bhattacharya invited four of the forum members to join him.

“We told him that a directive should be issued to all the schools to accept the old fees and not the revised ones. The minister referred to the minority commission act and expressed the limitations,” Sandipan Bhattacharjee, the president of the forum, said after the meeting. “We showed him the Supreme Court directives to the DA and non-DA receiving schools to withdraw the fee hike.” 

The forum pointed out that the Bengal education directorate had only issued an “appeal” to the schools on the fee hike instead of taking a strong stand like other states did. “The minister assured us that he would take up the matter with the state education and finance departments,” Bhattacharjee said.

The minister also directed Yadav to sit with representatives of Don Bosco School, St Joseph High School Matigara, Nirmala Convent, Jermel’s Academy and Auxilium Convent, the five schools, which have hiked the fees, tomorrow.