The Gujarat High Court has permitted private schools to collect tuition fees. While hearing the plea filed by the Federation of Self-Financed Schools and the Association of Progressive Schools (AOPS) on July 31, the court quashed the government order on not to levy tuition fees from parents till the schools do not resume normally.  

Manan Choksi, member of AOPS says, “The Gujarat government’s order was illogical and affecting the schools. We are happy that the high court noted our efforts that we put in for conducting online classes and permitted us to collect tuition fees. The court directed the government to assist the parents who are unable to pay the fees and ensure that there is no discrepancy in the functioning of schools.”

The government order dated July 16 was made public on July 22. In the earlier hearing, the Gujarat high court had questioned the state on the logic behind issuing the order prohibiting private schools from collecting tuition fees. The state government responded that the decision was taken considering the financial constraints of many parents due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown. It also informed the court that schools were requested to provide concessions but the schools did not agree, following which the said resolution was issued. 

The AOPS had started an online campaign #SaveOurSchools and organised a Twitter storm on Sunday against the government’s GR. The campaign received great response and saw over 1 lakh tweets by the educators, parents and students against the order.   

Read: #SaveOurSchools: Educators and parents tweet-protest against fee collection ban

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