ISB fee hike comes into effect

Manama : The Indian School Bahrain (ISB) fee hike has come into force with effect from the new academic year, after the proposal received nod from the Education Ministry.

The Executive Committee (EC) has implemented an increase of BD1.9-2.5 for fees for various classes in the first phase. Besides, a hike of BD1 has been introduced for transport, although the Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2015 had approved an increase of BD5 per student. 

School chairman Prince S Natarajan said the fee hike was the only way to take the school to financial stability in the years to come. 

In a circular to parents, he said, “Being a community school, the challenge lies in the smooth manoeuvring of the finances without affecting the functioning of the school. Added to this, there has been a rise in monthly expenses such as electricity and water charges.”

As for transport, there was a huge debt of over BD345,000 inherited from the past committee’s term. The payment for loans of the Riffa campus building started only during this tenure. The interest payments and the lease totals to BD63,000 per month, he added.

Opposition flays fee hike 

The United Parents Panel (UPP) urged the school management to withdraw the fee hike or make it effective only from September.

“The declared fee hike is effective from the beginning of the academic year, which means the parents must pay the extra amount from April, May and June along with the September fees. Fee hike in the middle of an academic year that too with the ‘previous prevalence’ is not acceptable. We are planning to approach the concerned authorities including CBSE on this matter. We are even thinking about moving legally against this unjustified fee hike,” UPP coordinator Rafeeq Abdulla said in a statement.

Abdulla blamed the current committee for unnecessary expenses. “If ISB management would like to increase the fee from the new academic year, it must have been informed earlier and not in the middle of the year. As per the available details, the present committee made the increase of monthly expenditure up to BD50,000, which are the real facts behind this fee hike. 

“They increased the transport fee too. The school was not settling the amounts to the transport contractor for a long time. These are due to mismanagement, not just because of lack of funds.

“If this panel found any mismanagement of fund from the predecessors, why are they not moving legally? We strongly believe that this is part of their responsibility and they have power to do that. Most of the parents including us will support school for this genuine move, if they are daring enough,” added Abdulla. 

Extra burden 

UPP chairman Ajayakrishnan said the fee hike decision is an extra burden on the parents. The parents were not allowed to express their opinion in the only legitimate venue, which is the AGM. Hence the decision to hike the fee is illegitimate, he added.

“The former UPP ECs for two terms were conducting School Fair every year and making the community contribute to the development  of the school. But the current EC did not conduct the annual fair for the first two years of their tenure and caused a loss of about BD250,000 to the school,” he pointed out.

“In their manifesto they have committed to fee reduction. But in the last AGM while ‘Any Other Matter’ agenda was under discussion, they have tried to sneak in a fee hike. The opposition boycotted the session to protest the attempt to sneak in something very important to the parents without listing it as an agenda in the call letter for the AGM. The EC manipulated the session and then declared that it has been passed, he added.