The District Education Regulatory Authority (DERA) has received a complaint against a popular chain of schools for allegedly forcing parents to purchase textbooks priced at ‘exorbitant’ rates.
A group of parents, on Tuesday, protested in front of Baldwins Girls School on Richmond Road. Another group had protested in front of Baldwin Co Education Extension High School, Rajarajeshwarinagar on Monday. Both these schools follow the ICSE syllabus and now, the Baldwin Boys School is also under the scanner.
One of the parents, whose child studies in the Baldwin Co Education Extension High School, said the school had not published the book list until recently. “The class teachers started collecting money ranging from ₹4,900 to ₹12,000 from parents. We also received messages from the vendors and we do not know who leaked our contact details,” the parent added.
Forcing parents to procure books from a designated vendor is against the rules of the Department of Primary and Secondary Education.
The Department of Public Instruction had also taken up an inquiry after a parent submitted a written complaint.
The school management, however, dismissed the complaints and said they were neither selling any books on the school premises nor authorised any vendor to do so. “We have only given them a book list and asked them to fetch the books from wherever they want. The protests are being instigated by a parent who himself is a vendor,” a member of the management said.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools (KAMS) has written to the Education Department stating that many schools are using textbooks not prescribed by NCERT or Karnataka Textbook Society (KTBS). They have urged the department to initiate an enquiry and take appropriate action against such schools.
