The agitation by guardians of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education (SAIE) has ebbed after the flare-up on April 22.

Parents had been lobbying to implement a list of 14 demands for the past few weeks and after an unsuccessful meeting with the governing body members on April 22, they had refused to let the authorities out of the CL Block campus till a solution was reached.

The agitation had continued till midnight, after which police had to baton charge the protesting parents and escort the authorities out.

“It all began when the authorities called us parents to discuss a fee hike in February,” says Santanu Basak, who has a daughter in Class IV of the school. “But there was no discussion. Rather, we were just informed that there would be an 18.8 per cent hike in fees this year.” The hike would amount to between Rs 250 and Rs 350 extra a month.

Thereafter some parents decided to form Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education Guardians Society. “The registration process is on now but unofficially we have around 200 members,” says Basak, who is vice president of the body.

They then drafted a letter, signed by 238 guardians, and sent it to the school authorities on March 12. The letter cited 14 points, of which one was the fee hike that the parents claimed was too steep. Other points included infrastructural inadequacies and the quality of teaching staff.

“Many teachers are not qualified. They teach in Bengali despite this being an English medium institute and are absent too often. The way they use slang and gossip on their phones during class is highly unprofessional,” says Aliva Roy, a Kestopur resident who has two children in the primary school.

The letter asked for the washrooms to be cleaned properly, laboratories to be upgraded, CCTVs to be installed in classrooms and for students to be allowed to use the elevator. It claims PT (physical training) exams are taken in class and that they should be shifted outdoors and that female attendants should be present in school buses.

“We had three meetings with the management and while initially they said they would consider a fee rollback, they flatly refused that on April 22,” said secretary of parents’ body Swarup Bhuniya. “About 150 parents had come that day and we decided to wait outside the school till the authorities assured us that positive action would be taken.”

The meeting was held at 4pm and the crowd dispersed only after a baton charge post-midnight. Classes, however, were not disrupted.

Looking ahead

SAIE, affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, had started in 1983 and operates from two campuses in BK and CL blocks.

The school’s governing body now does not want to linger on the incident. “Despite the agitation, parents have paid the fees and students are attending classes. As for the other demands, in the course of our meetings we showed the parents that their accusations were baseless,” said secretary of the governing body, Sankar Banerjee.

“We have about 70 teachers out of which about 50 are Masters degree holders. They are all qualified,” said Banerjee. “And some demands are simply not feasible. For instance, we have 1,950 students and only one lift. How can they all use it?”

As for the 18.8 per cent hike in fees, Banerjee said it was in keeping with the 15 per cent hike in the state government’s dearness allowance and the mandatory rate of annual increment of staff salaries.

Another governing body member explained that over the last year they had made many renovations to the school and that the funds came — not out of fee hikes but — from interest earned from their capital deposit.

“To protect children from the Blue Whale game, we have installed grilles on the higher floors, lest they try to do anything drasic. As fire fighting measures, we have built an emergency staircase, installed fire alarms and are building a reservoir on the terrace. We’ve spent Rs 6 lakh on CCTVs. Eleven of these are in BK Block and in CL Block, we have repaired 16 old ones and installed 30 new ones at the gate, balcony and common areas,” the member said.

“Our governing body members are followers of Sri Aurobindo. We do not take a penny for our services to the school and only want the welfare of students,” said Banerjee.

Parents, however, are not satisfied. “We have all paid up so our children can continue classes. But we shall consider our next step once our body is registered,” said Basak.