Full school fees after March 15, pay to join class, says Calcutta high court | Kolkata News – Times of India

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KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court ruled on Friday that the 20% Covid discount on school fees would end on March 15, 2022, and students can attend classes from the new session only if the new fees are paid.
The high court, on October 13, 2020, had asked schools to charge 80% of their usual fees, as online classes didn’t require students to physically attend school.

“With the Covid-19 pandemic showing signs of abatement, and with the resumption of substantial normal activities in the new-normal period, the time has come to assess how our order dated 13th October 2020, as modified from time to time, should be further adapted to suit the changed conditions,” the division bench of justices I P Mukherji and Moushumi Bhattacharya remarked.
The court also remarked that before re-admitting students in mid-March, the schools should inform parents and guardians of an estimate of fees and additional charges for compulsory facilities by February 15, 2022. The details of optional school facilities and their charges must also be provided by the schools, which would admit students only if the fees are cleared.
“The schools shall specifically indicate the mode of instruction, whether online or offline, for which those fees and charges are being demanded,” the court specified, given the new-normal hybrid mode of education. The bench said fees must be paid a month in advance, considering the stand-off between parents and schools over non-payment.
Considering the controversy created regarding non-payment of fees, from now on, fees and charges shall be paid in advance for each month,” the order said. The order also specifies that board examinees would have to clear board registration fees by the deadline fixed by schools, failing which the schools were free not to send candidates’ names for the board exam. The next date of hearing has been fixed for January 14.
“The court has recognised that concession in school fees cannot be continued, and everybody has to adapt to the post-Covid scenario. After the cut-off date of March 15, schools will charge normal fees following the court’s directions. Schools will send the estimates of fees and other charges by February 15 so that parents have enough time to decide if their wards wish to continue with the same school or to admit them in another school,” said Sourav Bhagat, advocate for schools like Shri Shikshayatan School and South Point School.
Schools have already submitted lists of defaulters to the court, along with the outstanding amounts against each name. Parents have been fighting the schools on the ground that while the court had earlier specified that only essential fees were to be charged, many have clubbed these with non-essential services, and hence the calculations that the schools had provided were differing from that of the parents. The court had later asked the schools to open an account where parents could deposit the “disputed” amounts. The HC on Friday said all other issues would be dealt with at the next date of hearing.

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