The Gujarat High Court has asked the state government to ensure private schools do not cancel admission of students who are not able to deposit fees by 30 June. A bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice J.B. Pardiwala asked the state to regulate online classes for school students and examine whether all the schools holding virtual classes for younger children is in the interest of their health.

The order was pronounced in a suo motu cognisance case on the state government’s preparedness to handle the Covid-19 crisis. The order to schools was issued on June 19, a copy of which was uploaded on 26 June, on a petition filed by an unregistered organisation named All Gujarat Vali Mandal will restrain schools from charging various fees except for the tuition fee until schools reopen physically.

The petitioner also asked schools to raise bills on a monthly basis and there should not be any increase in tuition fee. The court told the state’s advocate general Kamal Trivedi, “We are conscious of the fact that the State Government may not like to involve itself with the administration of the private schools, but in the wake of the current scenario, we request the State Government to work out some modalities with all the private schools across the State of Gujarat so far as the issues raised in this writ application are concerned.”