On Tuesday, Reena*, a mother of a ninth-grader had accused Glendale Academy, a Hyderabad-based school, of expelling her daughter midway from an online lecture because she had called them out for hiking the fees. Reena, who had taken to Twitter to accuse the school of hiking its fee indiscriminately, not adhering to the norms set by the Telangana government, said that her daughter's expulsion was a result of her protest. However, the school, on the other hand, has denied all the allegations and said that the child was logged out of the class due to a simple technical error.

They also shared their fee structure with EdexLive, which indicates that there was no fee hike. "We had rolled out a hike for the 2020-2021 academic year in December 2019. However, considering the current circumstances, we not only rolled back the hike but also offered a 10 per cent discount to the parents," says Minu Saluja, Assistant Director, Glendale Academy. "We will be happy to offer discounts to parents who are in dire need because this is not the best of times. However, this parent is blatantly making accusations against the school," she says.

The parent had alleged that the school had refused to give her the breakdown of the fee structure. "After the government order, the school had altered its tuition fee. Previously, the fee that they collected was a combination of tuition fees and the charges for other services. I had asked them for the breakdown, as they are now mandated to only collect the tuition fees," says Reena. Saluja, on the other hand, says that the parent was given this after she sought it. She added that Reena's daughter attended her classes the next day. "We really wish to sort this out. She (Reena's daughter) is a bright student and quite dear to us," she says.