Delhi Public School, Patna, is ready for a probe into allegations of unethical practices levelled by BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal in Parliament on Wednesday.

Responding to the charges hurled by the Bettiah MP, principal B. Vinod on Friday claimed the institute has a transparent functioning system. Union HRD minister Smriti Irani said she would ask the CBSE to conduct an inquiry.

Jaiswal stirred up a controversy by raising the issue of alleged unethical practices at private schools. He particularly accused DPS, Patna, of intentionally failing the students in higher classes to cough up money from parents."

Jaiswal told The Telegraph that he did not target any specific school but only gave the instance of DPS, Patna, of making profit. He said: "We cannot allow them to harass parents and mentally torture the students. I wrote a letter to Union HRD minister Smriti Irani a few months back about the private schools in Patna that are charging high fees and not giving 25 per cent reservation for below poverty line (BPL) students according to the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. "

He added: "I visited Patna Medical College and Hospital to see my friend's daughter who was admitted there. I got to know that she was mentally stressed, as the school didn't promote her to a higher class. The schools also pressurise students to take subjects against their wishes. The students had to seek psychiatric counselling, as two girls developed suicidal tendencies in two months."

CBSE chairman Satbir Singh sent a letter to the DPS administration and the regional officer two weeks back. CBSE regional officer Rashmi Tripathi said: "The letter was received on May 1 and within two hours, I got all the documents from the school and directly forwarded it to the head office. Further inquiry is being conducted by the CBSE headquarters."

DPS, Patna, has denied the charges levelled by Jaiswal that the school was using unethical practices like deliberately failing students. According to the principal, the school has submitted all relevant documents to the CBSE head office to stake its claim on the transparency front.

Principal Vinod said the school administration has the documents of all failed students and they had sent the documents along with answer sheets on the same day the letter was received from the CBSE headquarters. "We did not know that the issue was raised in Parliament but we are not worried because we have submitted all the proof. We are ready for any investigation. Someone has a personal grudge to defame our institution," he said.

According to Vinod, seven students out of 200 failed to clear exams and were not promoted. "Around 20 students were in compartmental list scoring less than 33 per cent in the theory paper who were accommodated to give a retest according to CBSE guidelines. The students, who did not clear the re-examinations, had to repeat the class. Of 20, four students failed in that retest."

"DPS is the only school in the city, which did not charge any registration fee in classes IX and XI. We also do not charge for readmission. Our school is transparent on the ground of financial matters and academics. All the transactions, whether admission fees or fines, were submitted through electronic clearance system (real time gross settlement)," said the principal.

He said every year, the school gets advertisement published regarding the admission of economically weaker students but no one turned up. "Our school was the first to submit application for admission of BPL students. The school cannot go to every doorstep for admission. We do what we can. The school is ready to follow the RTE Act," added Vinod.