DPS served notice for flouting govt orders over school fee

TNN | Apr 6, 2020, 07:40 IST

Ludhiana: The education department has started acting tough against schools asking parents to pay fee during the lockdown period, defying Punjab government directions. Despite repeated instructions, there were reports about some schools asking parents to pay the fee of their wards after results. Strict action was being taken against them.
Education minister Vijay Inder Singla said, “On Sunday, Delhi Public School (DPS) was given a show cause notice for violating government orders, and it has been given a 7-day period to file their reply for the violation. If they fail to give a satisfactory reply, we are going to cancel their affiliation or ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC).”
Despite repeated attempts to contact the school, the principal did not pick up calls from TOI.
Besides this, La Foundation School in Sangrur; DAV Public School, Bhupindra Road, Patiala; Bhupindra International School, Patiala; and Mount Litera Zee School at Faridkot were also served notices.
The education minister also cautioned other schools not to defy instructions, and said if any violation came to light in the future, the school concerned would be sealed by the district magistrate, before seeking any reply.
Singla said the education department had issued an order dated March 23, in which all private schools in the state were asked to reschedule their admissions for 2020-21. He added that according to the orders, the schools were directed to provide a window of at least 30 days for submission of fee after the situation got normalised.
He said that schools were also directed not to charge any late fee or fine from students for this period, and added that after the issuance of these orders, schools were being regularly warned — through various means, including the press — of strict action for defying the government directions.
He said parents from all over the state could directly lodge complaints regarding the flouting of these orders on his email ID, vijayindersingla@gmail.com.
The cabinet minister said coronavirus was a worldwide disaster, and due to the lockdown, parents were not able to pay the fee, even through online banking options. He added that the spread of the virus had brought all businesses to a standstill, and private schools should also cooperate with the state government by following its directions.