Gurgaon: The recent order of the school education department that upheld the ‘rights’ of the school to charge complete fees, including the charges deferred during the lockdown period last year, has left the parents disgruntled.
Expressing displeasure over the orders, which they term it as one-sided, parents on Monday started a Twitter campaign, demanding the government to ask private schools to charge only tuition fees so long classes are held online and students aren’t availing any services from the school other than online classes.
Parents, under the banner of Gurgaon Parents Association, trended #OnlyTuitionFee4OnlineClasses on the social media platform throughout the day.
Last week, the school education department released a revised order in which it announced that schools can charge full fees payment if they have provided online/offline classes. The department further asserted that the rebate given to the parents during the lockdown period are to be seen as charges ‘deferred’ and not ‘waived off’. The department, however, ruled that no private school is allowed to arm-twist the parents by withholding the results of the students or barring them from online classes/ exams.
Parents argued that the education department has failed to acknowledge their plight and uphold their rights. A few parents’ groups have also claimed that they are contemplating a protest and knocking on the doors of the court to challenge these orders.
“If school lobbies can pressure the government to pass orders in their favour, we’ll flex muscle to force the government to listen to our demands. Forcing parents to pay for the development and other charges for the services that have not been availed is illegal and not justified,” said Pradeep Rawat, president and founder of Gurgaon Parents Association.
Education department officials claimed that the orders are in line with the rulings of the apex court and that any solution to the inability of paying the fees should be discussed with the school managements. “So far fee payment is concerned, our orders are self-explanatory. The department has tried to strike a middle ground by upholding the rights of both parties,” said a senior education department official.
Schools maintained that the fee issue is closed now as the orders are binding for both parents and schools. They further reiterated that schools have provided sufficient relief to the parents who have submitted proofs about the their reduced income during the pandemic.