MUMBAI: Parents of students in Safa High School and Junior College in Umerkhadi, Byculla, were taken aback when the school issued leaving certificates to 11 students, effectively cancelling their admissions. The move is the latest in a pitched battle between parents and the private unaided school over the allegedly arbitrary fees being charged.
The dispute, which began in 2023, centres on alleged lack of transparency in the fees, which range from ₹40,000 to ₹45,000 per child, per year, from Class 1 to 10. Parents claim the fees have not been approved by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), a mandatory requirement, and every attempt to scrutinise the school’s books of account and other financial details, which determine the fees that can be charged, has failed.
Adil Ansari, a chartered accountant and father of two students at the school, was among the first to raise concerns. “When we started questioning the fees and the facilities provided by the school, we discovered there was no functioning PTA. So, we stopped paying the fees and asked the school to share its income and expenditure details, but they refused.” He clarified that the parents were not refusing to pay fees; they are upset at being allegedly overcharged.
The parents filed a complaint with the education officer of the school education department on November 28, 2023, after which the school established a PTA. “I was part of the PTA,” said Ansari. “They produced the relevant financial documents only after the education officer intervened. The documents revealed discrepancies, he claimed, adding that the fees collected were not consistent with the income and expenditure in the books of account.
Another parent, Abdul Sattar Shaikh, an architect with two children in the school, said, “After receiving our complaint, the education officer asked the school to submit an explanation. When it didn’t, an inquiry was initiated. The officer directed the school to attend a hearing.”
On March 28, 2025, education officer Devidas Mahajan issued an order, citing the annual inspection report dated July 3, 2024, which found that the school had not finalised its fees through a PTA-sanctioned process. The order directed the school to refund the excess fees charged.
Parent Mohin Ansari said in its inspection report, the school claimed it had charged ₹25,200 a year from each student. “We agreed to pay that sum, but the school continued to demand the previous fee.”
Matters reached boiling point when, on May 15, the school sent leaving certificates to the students’ homes along with letters stating that their admissions had been cancelled. Mohin said, “On the first day of school, we dropped off our children. Within half an hour, we got a call asking us to take them back because they were no longer students.”
Parent Shaikh said they approached the education officer, who sent a letter to the school and also officials for an inspection. “The officer’s letter clearly states that the school cannot issue leaving certificates in this manner,” he said.
Deputy Director of Education, Mumbai division, Sandeep Sangve, also instructed the education officer of the Mumbai south division to take action if the school does not re-admit the affected students.
Meanwhile, education activist Nitin Dalvi has filed a complaint with the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, which has issued a notice to the school and the education officer, demanding a reply within seven days.
Safa High School currently has 1,700 students on its rolls. Responding to the controversy, principal Shadab Salamat said, “We have done everything according to the rules. At the time of admission, we showed parents the ten-year fee structure, and they accepted it. They began complaining in 2023. We are cooperating with both the parents and the government, and have provided all the documents. Despite that, the parents are not paying their dues.”
She added, “We had sent letters in January to all the parents with pending fees mentioned, stating that if the dues weren’t cleared, admissions would be cancelled after the academic year ended.”
On the matter of leaving certificates, Salamat said, “We mentioned “as per parents’ wish” on the certificates so that the students wouldn’t have a problem securing admission elsewhere. We are doing everything legally.”
Salamat insisted that the current fees have been approved by the PTA, with a majority vote. “However, the members, who are also the complainants, have not provided their signatures. This does not imply that we are not adhering to the regulations.”