Plea seeks school fee waiver in absence of physical classes

NEWDELHI:A PIL has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking directions to the AAP government to take steps for waiving tuition fees charged by schools in the national capital during the COVID-19 lockdown as no physical classes were held.

The plea also seeks refund of the tuition fees paid by parents from April onwards.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan on Friday briefly heard the matter and then adjourned it to August 4 after Delhi government standing counsel Ramesh Singh said that the same issuehadbeendealtwith by the high court in April this year.

The lawyer for petitioner, Naresh Kumar, sought time to ascertain whether the issue raised in the petition has been dealt with by the high court in April. The court, thereafter, listed the matter on August 4.

During the hearing, conducted via video conference, the bench said that schools have to pay the teachers for conducting the online classes and also have to put in place the necessary infrastructure, like equipment, software and internet connections, for holding such classes.

It asked Kumar, represented by advocate N Pradeep Sharma, whether he was willing to pay higher fees if the schools say the cost of holding online classes is much more than that of physical classes.

Kumar, a lawyer, in his plea has also challenged the Delhi government’‘s April 17 notification permitted schools to charge only tuition fees.

DELHI GOVT’S ORDER FOR ONLINE CLASSES CHALLENGED IN HC

The Delhi High Court has sought the AAP government’s response on a school’s plea challenging its circular directing all schools not to deny online classes to students who did not pay fees due to financial constraints.

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 lockdown.

In its order passed on July 8, the high court asked the private school to follow certain steps before denying ID and password for online education facility.

It said such facility can be denied to those students who have not paid fees despite having no financial difficulties.

After hearing advocate Romy Chacko, who appeared for the private school, 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 give reasons for the same.

If the parents are able to prove their financial problems to immediately pay the pending fees, “the petitionerschool shall not take any further steps for the time being against such parents”, the high court said.

“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.

It further said that any parent aggrieved by the school’s decision are free to approach appropriate authority of the Delhi government.

IN ITS ORDER PASSED ON JULY 8, THE HIGH COURT ASKED THE PRIVATE SCHOOL TO FOLLOW CERTAIN STEPS BEFORE DENYING ID AND PASSWORD FOR ONLINE EDUCATION FACILITY