Siliguri, July 3: The Guardians’ Forum of North Bengal has given the schools time till July 7 to resolve the fee hike issue. It has threatened to launch a movement with all social organisations and student bodies in Siliguri if the deadline is not met.

The forum has also questioned the “intention” of forming guardians’ committee for each school to look into the problem of increased fees.

“First, there was delay in the formation of the committees and now, there is a sudden halt in pursuing the final rounds of talks. We called on minister Asok Bhattacharya on June 28, requesting him to ensure that the decision making process was expedited. But he is reluctant to intervene and cited the Minority Commission Act. These developments have prompted us to question the intention behind forming the committee. We suspect it is a sinister move to sabotage our democratic movement,” said Sandeepan Bhattacharjee, the president of the forum at a news conference today.

The forum has been spearheading a movement against the fee hike in private English medium schools in and around Siliguri for the past three months.

The minister had entrusted Vandana Yadav, the district magistrate of Jalpaiguri, to facilitate the setting up of committees in each institution.

Five committees for each of the five schools — Auxilium Convent, Nirmala Convent, Don Bosco School and Jermel’s Academy in Siliguri but under the Jalpaiguri district and St Joseph’s Convent Matigara under the Darjeeling district — were formed.

Each committee comprised five members of the school, an equal number of parents and one administrative official.

The first committee meetings for the four schools in Jalpaiguri district were held on June 17 and the one for St Joseph’s Convent was convened the next day.

“In the committee meetings, no schools, except for Nirmala Convent, produced its book of accounts despite notification by the district administration. The minister could have issued notices to the respective schools to produce their book of accounts at the meetings,” Bhattacharjee said.

The forum has already appealed to social organisations and student bodies to support its cause. “We will wait till July 7. If there is no response from the schools, we have no alternative but to take to the streets. The demonstrations will be in the form of bandhs, dharnas and road blockades,” he said.