At school,students ‘pay’ for unpaid fees

The school has,in fact,been threatening to strike off names of students from the school rolls if parents fail to “clear outstanding dues”.

“I’ve paid the fees according to the High Court order,” said a parent Abhay Jain. “The school has almost doubled the fees this year,” said a parent,Bunty Jain.

“Earlier too parents had protested against the hike,” said president of the Parent Teacher Association,Vipin Arora. They filed a case in the High Court after the school hiked the fees in July. The next hearing in the case is on November 17. Parents said since the hearing was due,the school had no right to hike the fees and fix November 9 as the last date for clearing dues. Around 400 students have been issued notices by the school.

“When the matter is in court,the school should have waited for a decision,” said Sachin Chaddha,another parent.

The Supreme Court issued an order in August 2009,stating that schools have no right to hike fees without consulting the government. The DoE also served a showcause notice to the school on May 29,a copy of which is with Newsline. It mentions that the school has a surplus or a reserve amount. “It has also enhanced the tuition fee which is not justified in view of the surplus funds,” said the notice. “It is contempt of court and the directorate order.”

The school quoting the May 28,2009 High Court order,said the court has permitted them to strike off names of wards who have defaulted in payment of fees. Most parents have paid the fees of two quarters of the year and when they submitted the fees of the third,the school returned the cheques and asked them to pay the hiked fee,including arrears.

Ram Palat,a parent who owns a bookshop,said,“Every year they increase the fees. I have increased my working hours. A time will come when I will have to work for 24 hours.”

Parents alleged they had been roughed up by the police in the afternoon after school got over. “We are simply asking them to wait for November 17. If the court says that we have to pay the full fees,we are ready to do so,” said Naveen Khosla,a parent.

Principal Anita Malhotra declined to speak to the media. But school authorities said “there was no problem”. A representative of the school managing body later came to the Greater Kailash-I police station to discuss the matter.