Shahzan Farooqi, a Class IX student of Summer Fields School, Kailash Colony, was not allowed to sit for his unit test on Monday, as his fees were not paid. His teacher “snatched” the answersheet and asked him to wait in the corridor.

Another Class VI student, Rishab Gupta, was also denied permission to take his exam. “Ma’am asked me to go to the reception and call my parents and took away my answersheet,” said Rishab. Students told Newsline that “they felt humiliated as the whole class came to know”. Parents said it was a “case of mental harassment.”

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.

... contd.