Indore: Parents are panicking as Chameli Devi Public School (CDPS), a private school affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), issued a notice asking parents to pay fee else their child’s name will be ‘struck off’.
Parent associations have already been urging the administration and even the courts to decide a requisite fee for online classes and fee waivers under the campaign ‘Jago Palak Jago’ citing financial constraints faced by parents due to Covid-19.
“As you know through our circular no 6 that we have been conducting video lectures and online classes for nursery to XII through google meet, and as per CBSE guidelines, students present are also being marked for attendance,” the school said.
Further, examination for all the classes will be conducted from September 2 to 12, 2020 and result will be provided later. “Hence, to ensure uninterrupted conduction of studies and examination, parents are asked to pay first quarter fee latest by August 31,” the notice said.
The school warned parents and wrote, “If you do not do pay the fee in the stipulated time, then it will be assumed that you don’t want your child to study in this school and hence, the name of student will be ‘struck off’.”
The school added that once the name is ‘struck off’ parents will be required to pay first as well as the second quarter fee to continue the child’s education in the school. School noted that the due date for the second quarter fee was also Aug 5.
To lure parents to pay the fee, school said, “If you pay the fee before or on August 31, then parents can pay the second quarter originally due on Aug 5 till Oct 5.”
Parent association running 'Jago Palak Jago' campaign questioned the notice and sought clarification citing that Jabalpur High Court in its last hearing had stated that schools cannot expel students even if their fee is unpaid.
“This is contempt of court if the school is planning to ‘strike off’ a child’s name due non-payment of fee, also a proper fee for online classes has not been set as yet,” advocate Chanchal Gupta, coordinator from parent association said.
To which, school principal Sangeeta Poddar said, “We are not expelling students from school, but we need to know if the student will continue in the school this year or not. Hence, we sought payment of first quarter fee.”
As per a recent release from Independent School Alliance, only 20 per cent parents have paid the school fee. Other parents as shared by the association are seeking decisions on appropriate fee for online classes and safe platforms.
Even this week, parent associations have held several demonstrations against schools pressurising them to pay the school fee, even though schools are not open. “Fee for online classes cannot be the same as full-time school charges and considering the fact that Covid-19 has affected everyone including parents and their jobs, the fee must be revised,” demand parent associations.
