Private schools in the national capital can collect fees on a monthly basis with a 15 per cent reduction in lieu of facilities that could not be utilised by students during the lockdown period, the Delhi government announced on Thursday. The government also said that school management shall not prevent a child from participating in any ongoing activities or strike off his or her name if parents are unable to pay the fee due to the current hardship.
''In order to clear the confusion and give much-needed relief to parents, the Delhi government has issued an order to private schools to charge fees on a monthly basis under approved heads only but with a 15 percent deduction in the fees for academic year 2020-21,'' the government said in a statement.
''To illustrate, if the monthly fee of the school in FY 2020-21 is Rs 3,000, the schools are entitled to collect Rs 2,550 per month after a deduction of 15 per cent. If the school has collected the fee in excess of the direction referred above, the same shall be refunded to the parents or adjusted in the subsequent month of fee to the parents,'' it added.
The Directorate of Education (DoE) noted that the order to cut the fees by 15 per cent, as directed by Delhi High Court, has been carried out to prevent profiteering and commercialisation in times of Covid-19.
"This order by the Delhi government is applicable to all the 460 schools who had petitioned the high court. The reduction of fees will be a respite for all the students and parents during the time of Covid-19," it said.
CitySpidey spoke to Aarti Sinha, vice-principal of a CBSE-affiliated school, she said that their school has been preparing for the current situation by arranging doubt clearing classes for the students. She said the teachers from their school have made sure that the education isn’t hampered because of fees. Yet again it’s worrying that if the teachers aren’t paid well how will the management sustain the faculty”.
Shashi Palni, mother of Tanishk who studies in Class 7 in Delhi Public School, said, “As a single mother it’s difficult to pay the full fees as my salary has been reduced since the lockdown began. Parents must pay the fees, as I have friends who are teachers, even they have families. All parents will readily pay the justified amount for a teacher's time and effort even during the lockdown, but the schools shouldn’t charge the development fee and the infrastructure fee till the schools don’t open."
