School faces heat over computer fee

Ranchi, April 2: Tension brewed between staff and parents of students of Doranda Girls’ Middle School here today as parents protested against the “forced” demand of computer fees by the school administration.

School authorities refused to give the final term results to students without payment of computer fees.

The parents, on the other hand, complained that the school is looting money in the garb of computer education as there are no computers on school premises.

The school charges each student Rs 400 per month for computer studies. The school also claims to give practical computer training to the students, but the computer “lab” reportedly has only two computers which have apparently been discarded.

Rekha Devi, a parent, said: “My daughter does not know how to work on a computer and she cannot even switch on the machine. The fees charged is not much if the school is providing the education. I am not opposed to computer education as it is the need of the hour, but to pay without any effort on the part of the school is not palatable.”

Meanwhile, a Class V student said the computer teacher, Ajit Kumar, has threatened students saying unless computer fees are paid, no one will be promoted to the next grade. Kumar, however, pleaded ignorance and claimed that the headmistress would be the one providing all explanations.

The school administration maintained that the policies are made by the management committee of the school. School headmistress Renu Bala Jha feigned surprise when asked about the absence of computers in the school.

Jha explained that the computers have been kept in the house of the computer teacher Ajit Kumar. “There were some problems in the school and the six computers have been shifted. The computers will be back soon and students will be given adequate training,” Jha said.

She said that the matters will be taken up with the school committee and they would decide soon.