Delhi government enforces High Court orders to reduce the overall fees charged by private schools. On Thursday, all private schools in the capital have been asked to cut their fees by 15%. This order will be applicable for last year's academic session i.e. 2020-21. If the school has collected more fees from the parents, the same shall be refunded or adjusted in the subsequent month of a fee to the parents, the govt. said.
This decision of the Arvind Kejriwal government is a big relief to the parents. On Thursday, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said that in the era of COVID, when parents are facing a financial crisis, a 15% reduction in fees will be a big relief for them.
The government said in a statement, “In order to clear the confusion and give much-needed relief to parents, the Delhi government has issued an order to private schools to charge fees on a monthly basis under approved heads only but with a 15% deduction in the fees for academic year 2020-21.”
"To illustrate, if the monthly fee of the school in FY 2020-21 is ₹3,000, the schools are entitled to collect ₹2,550 per month after a deduction of 15 per cent. If the school has collected the fee in excess of the direction referred above, the same shall be refunded to the parents or adjusted in the subsequent month of fee to the parents," it added.
The government has also ordered that if any school has taken more fees from the parents, then the schools will have to return the money or adjust it in the coming year. Apart from this, the school management will not stop the students from participating in any activities of the school for non-payment of the outstanding fees due to the financial constraints of the parents. This order of the government will be applicable to all those 460 private schools, which had appealed in the High Court. All other schools will have to follow the same order related to fees, which was issued by the Delhi government on April 18, 2020 and April 28, 2020.
The Directorate of Education (DoE) said that as directed by Delhi High Court, the order to cut the fees by 15% has been carried out to prevent profiteering and commercialisation in times of COVID-19.