HC to take up school fee case on July 23

Gurgaon: The Punjab and Haryana high court has agreed to an early hearing of a plea by private schools in Haryana against the state government’s directive that prohibited them from charging anything other than tuition fees during lockdown. The hearing in the case has now been slated for July 23, instead of September 7.
TOI has learnt that the high court on Thursday decided to hear the plea this month only after a group of private schools urged for a quick resolution in the matter on the ground that “several livelihoods are at stake”. Earlier on a plea by an association of private schools, led by Sarv Vidyalya Sangh, the high court had said that it would hear the same in September.
In the plea, the private schools in Haryana have demanded that they be allowed to collect at least 70% of the total fees, including annual development charges and meal charges, for the academic year 2020-21 — just like the court permitted the schools in Punjab in May — as they are finding it difficult to pay the salaries of teachers and non-teaching staff.
Earlier this week, TOI had reported that over one lakh teaching and non-teaching staff lost their jobs in the past three months.
“Schools, especially the no-profit-no-loss model ones, are finding it really difficult to retain bus drivers, housekeeping staff and even teachers,” said Kulbhushan Sharma, president of Federation of Private Schools Welfare Association. “If the government doesn’t allow us to collect full fees, they must announce a financial package for us.”