Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Sept 11: Even as the Department of Education has directed private schools to only charge tuition fees from the students in wake of COVID-19, several schools are violating the orders by charging miscellaneous expenses in the name of tuition fees.
The parents accused private schools of forcing them to pay the miscellaneous fees despite the schools being locked for last six months owing to the pandemic. They said the schools charging miscellaneous fees is against the orders of the Government Fee Fixation Committee and urged formation of a fee grievances cell to keep a check.
“As usual, I paid a monthly fee of around Rs 3200 and an annual fee of Rs 5000-6000. The Government order didn’t make any difference to me. They should not issue orders if they are powerless to enforce it,” a parent whose children are studying in Tyndale Biscoe, told Excelsior.
He said that the annual fees are customarily imposed for the extracurricular activities which were not held this year. “How can they charge when children did not even attend their classes,” he said.
Some parents also pointed towards an ambiguity surrounding the issue. “Government should come clear on the issue. Sometimes officials say bus fees should be paid while on other occasions they are against it. We do not know what to do?” Bilal Ahmad Dar, a parent said.
He added the school has withheld the results of his children as he could not pay the tuition fee due to a sudden hike. “I used to pay a monthly fee of Rs 500 but the school is asking me to deposit Rs 700 this time. The school authorities informed me that the extra money was sports charges. How is this justified,” he said? “I am a shopkeeper and have not earned enough in the last six months. Why did not they consider our condition? The government should act tough against schools violating the government orders,” he said.
The schools have not even spared people belonging to poor families. “I deposited monthly fees of Rs 400 and the school has asked me to deposit Rs 1000 as printing charges,” Arshid Ahmed Bhat, an auto driver from Bemina said. He added that his autorickshaw is stalled for the last six months and he is striving to make his ends meet. “Despite being below the poverty line, the schools are showing no mercy on my children,” he said.
G N War, President Private Schools Association termed the act of charging the miscellaneous fees as offense and called for harsh punishment against such schools. “The Government has clearly mentioned that only tuition fees are charged,” he said.
He continued they had directed all the private schools not to charge any kind of admission or capitation fees. “For new admissions the admission fee has been removed but they have to pay the annual fees as per the available resources. But this should apply on new admissions only,” he said, adding that they have also suggested charging 50% of the bus fees to ensure salaries of drivers.
Abid Hussain, Joint Director Central Kashmir told Excelsior that strict action would be taken in terms of relevant provisions of the law in case of any violations by the school management. He admitted that the complaints against various private schools were pouring in every day. “We take cognizance of the complaints received in this regard”, he said.
Asked about the formation of grievance cell, he said, “we have a post of Deputy CO in every district. He is the concerned nodal officer and people should approach him for such complaints,” he said.
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