GIIS Chinchwad parents ‘cheated’, school operated for 27 months after agreement expiry
Pune/Pimpri, August 6, 2019 : The parents of children studying in Global Indian International School (GIIS) in Chinchwad, which is already under fire after the management’s decision to change the name of the school as Elpro International School, have got another shock and they feel that they have been cheated.
On Tuesday, they learnt from a public notice in newspaper, issued by GIIS K12 EDUCATION PRIVATE LIMITED, “This is to bring to the attention of the public that the arrangement / agreement between GIIS K12 Education Pvt. Ltd. and Hind Charity Trust has lapsed / been terminated. Accordingly, with effect from 6th August 2019, the Global Indian International School (GIIS) Brand will no longer be affiliated or associated with the School situated at Elpro International Limited Compound, Shridhar Nagar Road, Pimpri-Chinchwad Link Road, Chinchwad, Pune-411033 (Maharashtra) in any manner, and the school management shall have no rights, going forward to use the Global Indian International School (GIIS) Brand and technical know-how solely for the purpose of managing the School.”
A statement was posted on GIIS website, “GIIS K12 Education Pvt. Ltd. (“GK12”) and Hind Charity Trust (“HCT”) had entered into an agreement on a principal to principal basis for a term which extended from the academic year 2011-2012 to the academic year 2016-2017. Under the agreement HCT was permitted to use the Global Indian International School (“GIIS”) Brand and the GIIS technical know-how / services for the purpose of managing the School (located at Elpro International Limited Compound, Chinchwad, Pune- 411 033) (“School”).
After the agreement expired in March 2017, despite repeated reminders from GK12 to HCT, the said agreement was not renewed by HCT and for the past 27 months they chose not to communicate about the expiry of the agreement to the parents, for reasons best known to them. However, GK12, acting in the bona fide interest of the School and the students, allowed an ad hoc use of the GIIS Brand by HCT so as to reach an amicable understanding on the agreement. Despite of giving multiple opportunities till date to HCT to renew the agreement, HCT failed to take any action towards such end. Further, despite using the GIIS Brand name on ad hoc basis, HCT failed to make the payment of dues from April 2018 onwards. Considering the above, and other adverse material findings, GK12 was left with no other alternative but to terminate its arrangement with HCT.
Accordingly, by way of a letter dated 31 May, 2019, GK12 formally informed HCT that agreement executed between GK12 and HCT stood cancelled and terminated. In accordance with the terms of the agreement a 60-day notice was provided to HCT to stop using the GIIS brand and technical know-how / services, which expires on 5 August 2019.
While HCT has responded to the said letter by raising various unsubstantiated and baseless allegations, without alluding to such insinuations GK12 seeks to highlight that the arrangement between HCT and GK12 shall come to an end on 5 August 2019. With effect from such date, the GIIS Brand will no longer be affiliated or associated with the School. GK12 is in the process of preparing a detailed response to the allegations made by HCT against GK12 in its replies. GK12 will be initiating appropriate action in terms of its rights and remedies under law with regard to the allegations and baseless insinuations levelled by HCT.”
According to parents whose children study in the school, both GIIS and HTC were apparently running a illegal arrangement for not for a few months, but for a duration of 27 months. This is ridiculous, cheating parents with GIIS name, when there was no agreement in place.
“Why did GIIS not come out and inform the parents, are they just here to give a FOUR letter affiliation to schools, make money and be a mute spectator? And they were still cheating the parents, outsiders with exorbitant fees in the name of GIIS. How the hell can you let anyone run with the name for more than 2 years, waiting for things to happen. This accounts to blatant cheating, poor kids have continued, lot of them have got their kids admitted in the name of GIIS and the management has no courtesy to inform the parents about what’s transpiring in the background”, the parents said.
They further added, “There are parents who have taken an admissions even after the termination notice was given to HCT in May 2019. Still you don’t open up and be transparent about the deal with GIIS. The blame game has started at the cost of fooling us.”
When contacted school spokesperson Dr Amrita Vora said, “Today’s advertisement by GIIS, stating that the association will be discontinued, once again, completely disregards our efforts of keeping the welfare of students at the forefront and fails to answer several practical issues arising out of this action. The decision of GIIS to revoke the association is against the spirit of the agreement and all actions thereof are being taken unilaterally and arbitrarily without any consideration or planning. We are the flagship Campus in their India portfolio and have helped build their relatively unknown brand in India. Moreover, the school has delivered positive results, dedicated resources and made a huge financial commitment towards the campus, infrastructure, staff and their training. Our legal team are preparing a response to their media advertisement. Notwithstanding the above, we continue to maintain our commitment to all students, parents and staff to ensure that the school operates regularly with no disturbance in any of its academic and administrative procedures. An communication to this effect has been sent to all parents.”
