Fee reminder: Pvt school puts stamp on boy’s arm

Ludhiana: A private school on Friday put a stamp on a student’s arm to send a reminder to his parents to pay his and his sister’s pending fee. The district education department has taken note of the incident and has said that it would mark an inquiry and act against the school if it is found guilty.
The school did not deem it fit to use a paper for the purpose. The incident occurred on Friday when Harshdeep Singh, a student of Class VII of PSEB-affiliated SDN School, Prince Colony, Street no 2, 33 Feet Road, Mundiyan Kalan, appeared for an examination.
His parents had not been able to pay Harshdeep’s school fee (Rs 760) for the past two months (April and May) and had also failed to clear Rs 6,000 dues of their 17-year-old daughter, who did her matriculation from the school this year.
Harshdeep said, “In view of examinations, I did not carry my bag. Rather than writing the note on a question paper or any other piece of paper, my principal put a fee reminder stamp on my left arm.”
His father Kuldeep Singh, who is an auto-rickshaw driver, said, “This is sheer embarrassment. I earn Rs 300 on a daily basis and my another son too works and gets his salary on 25th of every month. We have already told the school that we would clear the dues on May 25. We could not deposit my daughter’s fee due to lack of money, but that doesn’t mean they should harass my child.”
Disturbed by the incident, parents went to the school office to lodge protest.
His mother Gurmeet Kaur, who is a peon in another school, said, “This is seriously embarrassing for us. The school should not have done this.”
Justifying the act, school principal Shamma Duggal said, “They have not deposited the fee (Rs 6,805) of their daughter Jaspreet Kaur who did her matriculation from this school this year. Besides, they had also not paid school fee of their son.”
“I told the boy to show this to his parents to remind them to pay the fees. Though this can be erased easily, his parents misbehaved with me for doing this.” Principal’s husband S K Duggal, who is also the chairman of the school, said, “We had sent them several reminders to clear the dues, but to no avail.”
District education officer Swaranjit Kaur said, “This is sheer harassment. They cannot do this to any student. An inquiry will be marked and we will take strict action against the school.”