Siliguri, Nov. 6: The Guardians’ Forum of North Bengal has deferred the indefinite strike it had threatened to start in seven English medium schools from November 9 as the deputy mayor of Siliguri Municipal Corporation today assured the parents’ body that more meetings would be arranged with the institutions.

The reprieve, however, came with a rider: Authorities at Nirmala Convent would have to sit for a meeting with the forum to resolve the fee hike issue by next Friday, failing which the parents would call the strike.

The ultimatum comes after Nirmala Convent sent three guardians, instead of any management representative, to the meeting between the forum and the seven schools.

A heated exchange of words between the forum leaders and the three guardians sent by Nirmala Convent delayed the starting of the talks by one hour.

“We honour the deputy mayor’s request and defer the strike for the time being. But Nirmala Convent will have to hold talks with us by next Friday. Otherwise, we will go ahead with the indefinite strike at all the seven schools,” said Sandeepan Bhattacharjee, the forum president.

The deputy mayor, Nantu Pal, who is also the in-charge of the education and culture departments, said: “Meetings will be held between the forum and each school. None of the parties should delay the convening of the meeting as the impasse is proving detrimental to the future of thousands of students,” Pal said.

The schools, however, refused to revert to the old fees. “We will not roll back the fees. We are ready to hold dialogues with the guardians as a lot of bitterness and misunderstandings have cropped up between parents and schools,” said K.O. Augustine, a Don Bosco representative.