After the Supreme Court on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, declined to immediately interfere with Calcutta High Court’s order to waive 20 percent of tuition fees, the schools will have to calculate what fees they may charge now.

Some schools which had given parents the choice of seeking further relief as per a high court order are in the process of removing that clause from their notice after the Supreme Court put a stay on it.

A school in New Town has decided that the fee for Class V will be Rs 4,800 a month, instead of Rs 6,000 while Indus Valley World School has decided that for classes IX and X, it will charge Rs 22,134 for October and November, instead of Rs 27,667.

Delhi Public School, Ruby Park will decrease the tuition fee for classes XI and XII (science) to Rs 3,880 a month from the earlier Rs 4,850. The session fee for Classes I to XII at DPS Ruby Park will be Rs 16,000, instead of Rs 20,000.

Indus Valley and DPS Ruby Park had communicated to parents the revised fees days after the high court order.

South Point, Birla High School, Sushila Birla Girls’ School, Birla High School Mukundapur and The Newtown School will issue notices about the reduced fee structure soon.

Schools have to put up the revised fees on their websites or notice boards by October 31.

“We will be ready with the notice by Friday. We have provided concessions to parents during the pandemic and are working on the additionalities (according to the court order) and those additionalities will be provided,” said Brigadier (retd) V.N. Chaturvedi, the secretary general of Vidya Mandir Society, which runs Birla High School, Sushila Birla Girls’ School and Birla High School Mukundapur.

“The special leave petition (against the high court order) has been admitted by the Supreme Court and the court has granted interim stay on certain points. We will await the final outcome in the Supreme Court and until that time we will comply with the high court order,” said Krishna Damani, trustee of South Point.

Some schools have told parents to keep paying fees at earlier rates if their financial situation does not merit any reduction in amount.

The stay on certain points of the high court order by the Supreme Court has led the managements of a few schools to believe that institutions would no longer be sympathetic to parents hit hard by the pandemic.

“Since schools have to give the option of waiver across the board and there is a stay on the point of individual application, schools might not want to offer more concessions. This will impact some parents who are distressed,” a school head said.

The 11 schools under the Church of North India have filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against the high court order. They include the La Martiniere schools, St James’ School and Pratt Memorial School.

Source: The Telegraph

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