Many parents have approached school managements seeking either refund of fees of the previous academic year or to adjust it against 2021-2022 academic year. This follows the High Court order in September which had instructed schools to give a 15% discount in fees for 2020-21.
They also urged the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to implement the order. However, Sijo Sebastian, Voice of Parents Association, Karnataka, said many school managements are telling parents that they are not aware of the order or that it is not applicable to them. “The department should intervene and issue orders and comply with the court order,” he said.
While the department had stated that schools could charge only 70% of the tuition fees charged in 2019-2020 for the 2020-2021 academic year, indicating that schools should give 30% discount, the High Court had said that schools, in lieu of underutilised facilities during that academic year, should give 15% discount. The court went a step further and said that schools should not debar students or prevent them from attending offline or online classes due to non-payment of fees. The parent of a student of a CBSE school in south Bengaluru said managements were not only refusing to refund fees, but were not allowing students to attend classes if fees were not paid in full.
A senior DPI official said the department had sent the file to the State Government, which has to take a call on this matter. “Before sending the file, we took a legal opinion which had stated that the High Court order should be implemented and it was not a fit case of appeal. We are waiting for instructions from the government,” the official said.
On the other hand, D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said there was a need for the government to issue orders based on the High Court’s direction. “I asked the department to issue orders, multiple times. After they do, the department can act against schools who refuse to follow the order,” he said.
