Dear Sir/Madam,

This is to inform you that The school (Name of the school) is not following the order issued by  DOE( Directorate of Education) on April 18th 2020. This order clearly mentions that no private schools are allowed to demand fees except the tuition fee during the lockdown period, and after the lockdown is over, schools are allowed to charge Annual and  Development fees on the pro-rata basis, only on a monthly basis. The school has misinterpreted this order and assumed that lockdown is over and has started charging both Annual fee and Development fund from August onwards.  

I, as an aware parent, visited the school on (The Date) to discuss this matter with the Principal in person. I asked the Principal why they have started taking annual fee and development fund when the lockdown is still going on; schools are still not opened for the students, and classes are conducted online. I asked them to give a proof whether they have got some direction or order from DOE or some court order if it exists then the school can share it with me and give a copy of that to me so that  I can read and understand why the school has started taking annual fee and development fund, and accordingly I can pay the demanded fee. But, I was shocked with the answer given to me by the Principal of the school, she straight away refused to give me any proof and said that we are charging this annual fee and development fund based on a court order. She said that during this pandemic time, she was unable to give the full salary of its staff, so in order to bridge this gap, she is charging annual fee and development fund. I asked her to give me a copy of the court judgment based on which the school has started charging annual fee and development fund, but instead of giving me a copy of the same, she gave me the court judgment order No: CWP No.7409-2020. I insisted the Principal to share the same on the school website as a notification so that parents can see the court judgment order and pay the justified amount of fee. But still, it has not been shared with the parents and not been uploaded on the school official website.

Later on, I downloaded this court judgment, this case is between Independent Schools Association … vs State of Punjab , the judgment came on 30th  June 2020.  Now, these are the mistakes which the school is doing by following this court judgment:

  1. This is a Punjab-Haryana-Chandigarh High Court judgment, which is straightway not applicable to Delhi Schools.  
  2. As per our constitution, schools come under state, so this is a state matter. So judgment given by the high court of one state does not apply to other states. That is why this judgment becomes invalid for Schools in Delhi.
  3. SBDAV School, Vasant Vihar, Delhi should follow the order of the only DOE. Delhi Schools are not yet open and are facing the lockdown period, so the order by DOE, which came on April 18th, 2020 is still valid unless the school physically opens for students.
  4. The Principal wants to collect the annual fee and development fund to compensate for the salaries of its teaching staff, but she might not be aware that the funds collected under these two heads are not supposed to be used for giving salaries of the teaching staff. Tuition fee is the only part of the total fee, out of which the Principal is supposed to give the salaries to its teaching staff and the parents are already giving the tuition fees of their wards.

For seeking the information on why during the ‘lockdown of the school,’ the school has suddenly started taking an annual fee and development fund from August 2020 onwards, addressing Principal I e-mailed the school authorities on their official e-mail id on (the Date) but I did not receive any response from their side, so I again send a reminder e-mail for the same on (the Date), which again not replied from their end.

The same case was reported by Bal Bharti Public School, Ganga Ram, Delhi. In this regard, an order by Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) was issued, and it was directed to the school to charge only the tuition fee, and the school has no right to charge annual fee and development fund.

Charging annual fee and development fund when school is in the lockdown phase is unethical. School Authorities are making a fool of parents and charging these two additional charges when they are not authorised to collect the same.

The order issued by NCPCR and clearly says that The Commission reaffirms its earlier recommendation dated 12.02.2018, that no child should be harassed/neglected/discriminated due to any non-agreement or conflict between parents and the school or other educational institution catering to children till the age of  18  years. Such disagreements should be addressed only between the parents and school/educational institution without involving the child in any manner.

Check here for NCPCR order 

The Delhi High Court has ordered that in case a school demands consolidated fees i.e. without distinguishing the various heads of tuition fees, co-curricular activities fee etc, the parents are entitled to bring it to the notice of the Directorate of Education, which shall take steps in accordance with the law.

Check here for HC order

 

I request you, to take this matter on a high priority because parents had suffered a lot during this pandemic time, and many of them had either lost their jobs or had their salaries cut. Therefore, it is quite difficult for them to pay these add ons.

It’s my humble request to the authorities to take necessary action against the school so that they revert their decision to take additional annual fee and development fund over and above of tuition fee.

Attachments   Click 1 & 3 red ink links

  1. Directorate of Education (DOE), Govt. of NCT of Delhi, order no: PS/DE/2020/55 dated: 18/04/2020
  2. Punjab-Haryana-Chandigarh High court judgment order: CWP No:7409-2020, Independent Schools Association … vs State of Punjab, dated: June 30th, 2020
  3. DCPCR order to Bal Bharti Public School, Ganga Ram. Order No: C/RTE/DCPCR/20-21/Covid/Education/211/1954-57 dated: 30/07/2020.
  4. Complaint to DOE, Complaint ID: 

Regards

Also Read: Transfer certificate can not be withheld by schools over non-payment of fees

Delhi HC allows the school to stop online classes to those students who have not paid tuition fee in spite of no financial incapability