Parents sore over forced purchase
Making it mandatory for students to buy uniforms, books and other stationeries from school stores by some private educational institutions is allegedly causing a huge burden on parents.
According to several parents, despite purchasing uniforms and stationeries last year that were not used much, school managements are making it compulsory for the students to buy all materials again for the upcoming academic year. The average cost for these materials has gone up by 35 per cent, claim parents.
As a practice, the school administration informs the parents while paying the school fee that they would have to pay an extra `10,000 to `15,000 for these supplies.
Asif Hussain Sohail, president, Telangana Parents Association, said every year parents were forced to buy new books from the school and the management did not accept books by different publishers even if the content was the same.
“The school management does not give us all the books that we paid for at once, they give it to the children when needed. Hence, If I had paid for 10 notebooks for my child, of which only five were used, the schools would be reselling the same leftover notebooks at a higher price the next year. We end up paying twice for the same set of notebooks,” he said.
He added that books at schools were sold at a much higher cost than in other bookstores.
Another parent said the cost of notebooks, textbooks, uniform and stationery had gone up by 35 per cent.
He says, “For the past few years, the schools are just functioning like private hospitals. My child has to purchase books, uniform, belt, tie, socks, blazer, sports uniform, cardigan and everything from the school and if we get it stitched from other clothing stores, the uniforms are not accepted.”
“It does not matter if your child is suffering from a cold, the student has to wear only the cardigan provided by the school,” said another parent, and added, “Even if we buy the books of the same syllabus, the student is not allowed to use them.”
“On an average, we shell out `15,000 to buy uniforms, books, and additional amounts to buy art and craft supplements,” said Aruna Singh, a parent whose children study in a private school in the city. She even made requests to the government to bring in directions for schools to accept uniforms stitched outside, through this newspaper.
However, some school principals said they bought books and uniforms in bulk and gave it at a discount rate to the parents.
“How can students get the same quality clothes if they purchase from different stores? And don’t the students outgrow every year? How can parents not buy new uniforms every year? They are okay with the uniform fading, they are okay if the student does not look tidy, but they won’t buy a new uniform. What about the reputation and identity of the school?” questioned the principal of a wellknown school in the city.