Finally, fee respite in schools

Parents relieved after Delhi High Court says they won't have to pay the 36-month arrear

Here is some good news foru00a0 parents with school-going children. The Delhi High Court on Thursday passed an interim order directing private schools in the Capital not to collect arrears from parents.

The order also directed that arrears could be collected only after August 2008, giving parents a substantial relief. Now, they wouldn't have to pay the 36-month-arrear.

Ashok Agarwal, who is the counsel for thousands of parents across Delhi, said, "Definetly, it's a major relief for parents as they will not have to pay the hiked amount. We are hopeful that the court will pass the final order in our favour."

"The High Court also directed the schools to refund the amountu00a0 to those parents who have already deposited the arrear.

In addition, those who have paid the dues and their ward wanted to leave the school will be reimbursed the full amount," he added.

Though, the final court order will come on July 14, the parents are taking the interim order as a big victory.

"Private schools were arbitrarily hiking fees.

Now I will be saving at least Rs 6,000 on my son's education," said Inderjeet Singh Gambhir, whose ward is studying in Faith Academy School, Karol Bagh.

Gambhir and 633 other parents from the Faith Academy School were among those who filed the petition in the High Court. The parents alleged the schools had provided inflated figures to hike fees.

Many parents feel that the schools are running an "extortion racket" in connivance with the officials of the Directorate of Education.

"In the last 10 years, schools have hiked fees by about 600 per cent in the name of annual increments.

I was paying a monthly fee of Rs 3,000 and later, I was forced to pay Rs 4,200 for my son's schooling," said Dalip Khanna, whose two sons are studying in Ramjas School, in Class X and VII, respectively.

More than 800 parents of children studying in Ramjas School, Rohini, had also filed the petition.

Meanwhile, a lot of parents alleged that schools have bifurcated their fees under several heads to confuse the government and court.

"Besides increasing the basic fees, the schools have also increased several other charges like development fee by more than 400 per cent.
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Earlier, I was paying Rs 3,900 for three months but later the fee for the first quarter had been increased to Rs 11,200," said Rakesh Yadav, whose son studies in Ramjas School, Karol Bagh.

"Though the education department okayed the hike, it never cared to ensure quality education.

The need of the hour is to audit school accounts and make them accountable to public," said Yadav.