Pvt schools can’t be allowed to feed on human misery: UT
COURT WAS TOLD THAT EVEN CBSE, ICSE BYLAWS STATE THAT FEE IS TO BE CHARGED AS PER GOVT REGULATIONS
CHANDIGARH: The UT administration has told the Punjab and Haryana high court that the private schools’ plea challenging UT’s directions on fee collection proved that they were charitable public trusts only interested in collecting donations and amassing land, and not public service.
They can’t be allowed to feed on human misery; education is a noble profession, not a trade, the administration said in its response to the plea filed by schools that challenged UT’s move to allow them to only charge a tuition fee during the lockdown.
The plea was filed by the Independent Schools’ Association of Chandigarh, a body of 80-odd private schools in the city, on June 22 seeking the quashing of the notification issued on June 3 under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, directing them to collect only tuition fee from students till further orders.
In the wake of the pandemic, the state ought to frame policies that provide relief to residents, the UT administration stated in front of the court, adding that the June 3 notification was put out to help financially-crippled parents of wards studying in private schools.
‘THEIR PLEA DOESN’T MENTION SHORTFALL’
The UT further stated that the plea did not mention how much fee was collected by the schools earlier and how many parents already deposited the fee. The plea also did not mention the shortfall faced if the schools were to collect fee as per UT’s notification. It was difficult, therefore, to ascertain the hardship, if any, being faced by the schools. Moreover, even CBSE and ICSE bylaws clearly provided that the fee shall be charged only as per the regulation of the appropriate government, the UT told the court.
The court was told that of the 78 schools of the association, 41 were already complying with UT’s notification. “Majority of the schools have always propagated themselves to be smart schools, fully equipped with computerised and digital technology. So to say that any school has spent extra on technology is a misrepresentation,” the court was told. Majority of the technology platforms like Whatsapp and Zoom were free and no special training was required to be imparted to teachers as claimed, the UT officials said.
Since the issue is pending with the Supreme Court, the UT requested the court to defer plea hearing till the apex court’s ruling. The plea will next be taken up on July 15.