Mumbai: Students of the Somaiya School at Vidyavihar affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) are debarred from appearing for online internal examinations for not paying the academic fees.
The school management said some parents have not paid academic fees despite being given the option to pay in instalments, deferment in payment of semester fees and repeated reminders.
Parents said the overall fees of one academic year is approximately Rs 1.30 lakh which varies for each standard. The school had given them an option to pay the fees in four instalments due to financial constraints on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A parent on request of anonymity said, "I have paid the first instalment of Rs 30,000. Now, the school has asked to pay two pending instalments which will amount to a total of approximately Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000, otherwise my son will not be given access to the ongoing online exam. How am I supposed to arrange such a big amount immediately?"
On the other hand, the spokesperson of the school told the Free Press Journal, "We had given certain relaxations to parents considering financial constraints due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation. Parents were given an option to pay fees in four instalments. But till now, some parents have paid only one instalment. We had sent reminders How are we supposed to pay salaries of teachers if parents do not pay their children's school fees?"
After January 8, students whose parents had failed to pay fees were not given access to the online exam link, said Virendra Singh, a parent of a Class 5 student. Singh said, "My daughter was debarred from appearing for the online exam because I had not paid the second and third instalments. Finally, when I paid the fees, only then my daughter was allowed to appear for the exam."
The spokesperson of the school said, "We cannot allow students whose parents have not paid the second and third instalments of the fees to appear for the exam. If there are some parents who have a genuine problem and are unable to pay fees, they should approach the school."
