The issue of school fees has become a bone of contention between school authorities and parents in Chandigarh.
In a recent order by the UT Education Department has directed the following:
- Private-unaided recognised schools can collect only tuition fees on a monthly basis.
- 15th of every month from June 2020 onwards has been decided as the last date to deposit tuition fee.
- Tuition fees for April and May 2020 will be collected by May 31. No late fee charges will be applied on it upto the said date.
- No parent in weak financial conditions due to COVID-19 crisis can be forced to deposit the fees in time. “Such a request will be considered sympathetically on a case-to-case basis by the concerned schools,” reads the official orders.
- Neither any student can be deprived of online teaching nor his name be struck off during lockdown period.
- Schools have to make sure that all students have access to online education without any discrimination during the lockdown/vacation period.
- Some private schools had cut 40% of salary of their staff. Taking cognisance of it, the schools have been directed to not to stop monthly salary or reduce existing total emolument of teaching and non-teaching staff.
Petition by Independent School Association led to this order:
The above order came in the wake of civil writ petition filed by Independent School Association and seven other petitioners. They had challenged March 30’s the UT Education Department order in which all recognised private-unaided schools were directed to reschedule the last date for depositing the fees and funds for the session 2020-21. It had directed that the last date would be fixed by giving atleast one-month time to parents after reopening of the school and no late fees would be charged.
The petitioners pleaded that for the payment of salary and other expenses, the schools needed to collect fees from students.
The UT Education Department has left parents fuming in anger.
The practice of charging a consolidated fee, which very cunningly includes all hidden charges and extra funds, are now being ordered to pay in full. Moreover, schools are now demanding full hiked fees from parents suffering massive financial losses while the administration has not taken a single action against the defaulter schools for not uploading their balance sheets, apart from providing them with extensions and leverages.”
–SAID A PARENTS’ BODY.
Source: The Tribune
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