After the lockdown, the Rajasthan High Court has finally given a verdict for the private school fees case on Monday. The court has given a major relief to private school operators as well as the parents who have been worried since long for fees reduction. Private schools can charge 70% of the school fees.
The verdict over the long controversy over the fees of schools closed due to the Coronavirus has been announced now. On Monday, the high court directed private schools to continue online classes after the recovery of 70% of the annual school fees from the parents.
While giving relief to private school operators, the court has taken care not to impose a financial burden on the parents. For this, the exemption has been given to the parents. Parents are given an option to pay fees in three instalments by January 31.
The court also ordered that on non-payment of the school fees the online classes shall be discontinued for the particular student. But, he or she will not get expelled and their names can’t be deducted from the school if they are unable to pay the fees even in three instalments.
The court also spelled out time for paying the instalments. The first instalment should be cleared before September 30. The second instalment must be submitted by November 30 while the last one must be paid by January 31.
The court notified that “total infrastructure cost, which the school may incur for regular studies during normal days, has been definitely reduced as schools are not opening daily. On the other hand, there are also cases where the parents may have two or three children. Each one would require a separate laptop or computer as all of them would be undergoing online classes at the same time. Thus, a comparative balance is required to be maintained.”
The court explained that, though the schools have to suffer certain extra expenses for teaching online classes, the expenses parents are suffering to provide infrastructure to each child, who is taking online classes from home, would be comparatively less.
Earlier, Catholic Education institutions, Progressive Education Society, and other schools in Rajasthan, filed petitions against the court. Through these petitions, the private schools had challenged the government’s order of April 9 and July 7 for suspension of fees.
The state education department on April 9 issued orders that the fees for three months of lockdown should not be demanded by the private schools. Later on July 7, another order was issued stating that schools could not charge fees till schools operate physically. In between, the CBSE asked schools to begin online classes. But referring to these government orders, parents refused paying the fees which resulted in an unsettling situation. This decision of the high court has brought major relief to the private school operators.