PUSA seeks prohibitory orders around schools

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 28

Irked with the parents’ association for going back on its promise of not staging stirs against private schools, members of the Punjab Unaided Schools Association today announced that they would approach Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Dr Basant Garg and demand implementation of Section 144 around schools to maintain law and order.

The PUSA members also announced not to conduct any discussion or meeting with the parents’ association in future.

The PUSA members, during a meeting in the city today, said barring a few schools in the city which were not part of the PUSA, all other schools were adhering to the norms, which had been mutually arrived at during special meetings convened under the special panel constituted under SDM Anmol Singh Dhaliwal and were attended by members of the PUSA and representatives of the parents’ association.

“During the meetings, the association members had promised that they would amicably take up the issues with the school managements and not resort to staging protests against the schools. The association backed away from what was agreed within a week and has again started harassing the schools and students by staging protests and creating law and order problem,” said president of the PUSA, Vinod Khurana.

The association members were blackmailing the schools by staging protests and without knowing the facts and figures about the percentage of hike in annual charges made by these schools, he added.

“On Wednesday, they staged a protest outside Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School, despite the fact that the school has hiked its annual charges by less than seven per cent, which is now under the permissible limit as per the norms finalised during the panel meetings. The association is now demanding that the schools must not charge annual funds at all,” Khurana said.

State legal advisor of the PUSA, advocate Rajan Garg, elaborated that the parents’ association went against Section 9 of the agreement, which was signed by all those who participated in the special panel meetings, which mentioned that if the parents had any issues, they would first take it up with the school management, then with the district administration and in case they don’t get any solution, they would take the protest path.

“Instead of adhering to the clause, they started staging protests against the schools without approaching the school management or the district administration. The PUSA has decided not to hold any meeting or discussion with the parents’ association now, and file defamatory suits against them if need be. If parents of children of any of the schools under the PUSA have a grievance, they are welcome to take it up with us,” Garg said.