Mumbai: Kandivli school takes 22 students out of classrooms over due fees

Kapol Vidyanidhi International School Kandivli has come under the scanner after parents alleged that the school administration humiliated their children after they raised their voice against ldquocapitation and unjustified feesrdquo A few parents lodged a complaint with the police against the management on Saturday saying the school allegedly forced 22 students to sit in the laboratory for four days over nonpayment of feesAn officer from Kandivli police station said ldquoBased on the complaint an FIR has been registered on Monday night under section 23 of the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act 2000 We will soon visit the school and speak to the management and principalrdquo School principal Reshma Hegde and two others have been named in the FIR but no arrest has been made yetParents in the school premisesAnother parent has also moved court against the school management and the writ petition Some have also approached the Child Rights Commission The parents have also alleged that the school had deployed bouncers on the school premises on MondayA traumatic experienceThe complainant Krina Shah told midday ldquoMy daughter is a Std IX student and I have been fighting about the fees During the lockdowns students didnrsquot use the laboratory or the school premises and there were no practical activities but we were still charged for them I wrote the school to not charge these fees but the school authority was not ready to accept it So we filed a writ petition in the courtrdquoThe complainant parents along with MNS leader Dinesh Salvi at Kandivli police stationldquoOn April 1 my daughter and one of her classmates were asked by their class teacher to leave the classrdquo she said adding ldquoThey were then directed to the physics lab According to my daughter there were already 2025 students present who had outstanding fees It was extremely traumatic for all of these students who faced the discriminationrdquoShah said ldquoWe approached the Kandivli police the very next day but they refused to register a case We then took help of MNS leader Dinesh Salvi following which our complaint was accepted We need justice for our kids so that not a single kid gets this type of punishment in futurerdquoMNS leader Dinesh Salvi told midday ldquoThe police were not ready to register an FIR Later we met the police and forced them to register the FIR to give justice to the students and parents Police should arrest the principal and the two HODsrdquoThe issueldquoThe matter is in the court now as parents are unwilling to pay extracurricular and other activities fees that were being charged by the school If they did not use buses during the lockdown then why should they pay transportation fees The school should have waited till the courtrsquos verdict Punishing kids in this manner is illegalrdquo said SalviJayant Jain from Forum for Fairness in Education said ldquoThose parents opposed or have not paid the fees as many heads under fee structure were unjustified and illegal And yet the school had the audacity to discriminate and humiliate the childrenrdquoNavnath Vanve education inspector Mumbai West zone said ldquoWe learned about the FIR filed by the parents and we are dispatching an officer to probe the matter and take appropriate actionrdquoSchool SpeakWhen contacted principal Dr Hegde told midday ldquoThe problem has been there since the past two years There were parents who sought assistance demanding concessions in fees during the lockdown We had asked them to give a letterundertaking stating their financial issues for us to consider their request We had received over 500 letters and gave concessions to many genuine cases even a waiver to a few parents of around Rs 75 lakh However some parents are demanding further reductions which is not possible We do not want to discontinue the education of students hence we accommodated them in the physics lab and gave them basic lessons The allegation that we harassed students is false They were not subjected to any humiliationrdquoShe added ldquoWe already sent 10 notices to the parents to pay pending fees but they were not ready We will send them legal noticesrdquoCop SpeakSpeaking with midday Senior Inspector Dinkar Jadhav said ldquoWe have registered the case against the Kapol International School principal Reshma Hegde and Head Of Department Toral and Susham under Section 23 in The Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act 2000 for mentally harassing 1015 students in the school over a nonpayment of fees The students were kept in the lab instead of classroomsrdquo1 AprilDay the incident took place