School Challenges Govt’s Order To Continue Online Classes For Students Who Can’t Pay Fees: HC Seeks Reply

Source: Hindustan Times

A Delhi-based school recently denied ID and password for online classes to those who did not pay up the fees due to financial constraints. This made the AAP government object it.

School has in-turn challenged the order of the Delhi government and Justice Jayant Nath issued notice to the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education (DoE) and sought its stand on the plea which has challenged its April 18 circular which says only tuition fees shall be charged from parents during the COVID-19 lockdown.

In its order passed on July 8, the high court instructed the private schools to follow certain criteria before denying ID and password for an online education facility. It said such a facility can be denied to those students who have not paid fees despite having no financial difficulties.

The high court asked the school to first issue notices to the parents who have defaulted in fee payment for more than two months asking them to give a reasons for the same soon after the order passed.

Read | Online Lessons on TV!

“Where the parents are unable to satisfy/demonstrate to the petitioner regarding their financial difficulties, the petitioner is free to so communicate the same to the parents and decline to provide them ID and password for online education facility for the students,” the high court said.

In the plea filed through Chacko, the school has stated that “taking unfair advantage” of the circular’s provisions, about 40 per cent of the students are defaulting in payment of tuition fee resulting in extreme financial crisis to the institution which is “struggling to pay the salaries of the staff and the teachers”.

The school has urged the court to allow it to charge the actual expenditure incurred by it during the lockdown period in the form of fees from the students.