BENGALURU: Parents of a class 9 student accused a private school of not letting their child write an exam because they paid only 70% of the tuition fees as per government rules.
They said their daughter was made to sit in a separate room alone for over three hours while her classmates took the math exam on Wednesday.
The father of the girl, a student of Royale Concorde International School, Kalyan Nagar, said he had paid Rs 54,000, which amounts to 70% of tuition fees.
“On Wednesday, she was sitting in the hall waiting for the exam to begin when a teacher asked her why she was there without paying fees,” the father claimed. “She was then sent to an administrative room and told to sit there and revise lessons. When the exam ended and all the other students left, she was told to call her parents and leave.”
The father added: “Can you imagine the mental trauma for my daughter? No child should go through this. She was barred from online classes and previous exams. We complained to the block education officer and the fee dispute hearing committee fixed a meeting on Monday. When we got there, we were told to come back another day as the official was unavailable. The BEO evades our calls. We have now filed a complaint with the Child Welfare Committee.”
Many other parents also said their children have been blocked from online classes despite paying 70% of fees. They too have registered complaints with the BEO and CWC.
“My child too was blocked from classes, but what happened today is unethical and unacceptable,” one parent said. “While there were 150 of us initially, around 60 paid full fees as they were unable to withstand the humiliation.”
LR Shivarame Gowda, founder chairperson of the school, said: “There are nine parents who have not even paid even 70% fee. About Rs 4 lakh is pending only from them. A case on the fee issue is in the high court. Covid-19 has been harsh on everyone, not just parents. We have incurred huge losses. The government has not offered zero support to private schools that provide quality education to crores of children.”