The Allahabad High Court has said in an order that all private schools in the state will have to return 15 percent of the fees collected during the session 2020-21 to the parents during the Corona period. The court said that the fees of the students who are studying in the school should be adjusted in the fees of the next session and 15 percent of the fees collected from the students who have left the school should be refunded.

During the Corona period, many petitions and public interest litigations were filed regarding the waiver of the fees being collected by the schools. Hearing all these together, the division bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice JJ Munir has given this order. Advocates Shashwat Anand and Yanendra Pandey, on behalf of the parents, said that no service was provided in private schools except online tuition in the year 2020-21. Thus charging even a single rupee more than the tuition fees by private schools is nothing but profiteering and commercialization of education. The petitioners also referred to the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Indian School, Jodhpur vs. State of Rajasthan, in which the Supreme Court has said that demanding fees by private schools without providing any service is profiteering and commercialization of education. Is.

As per the order of the High Court, all the schools will have to add 15 percent of the total fees taken in the year 2020-21 and adjust it in the next session. Also, the children who have left the school, the schools will have to return 15 percent of the fees taken in the year 2020-21. The High Court has given two months time to all the schools to complete this process.

Highlights of the decision:

The court said that the fees of the students who are studying in the school should be adjusted in the fees of the next session and 15 percent of the fees collected from the students who have left the school should be refunded.
The High Court has given two months time to all the schools to complete this process.
This decision will be applicable to schools and students of all boards of the state.

Opinion of the advocates for the petitioners:

The fees charged are based on the principle of quid pro quo in law, which means something for something. During the Corona period, private schools could not provide library, lab, sports etc. services in proportion to the fees. That’s why the fees could not be taken on the pre-covid fee. This order of the court will be effective on all private schools in the state. If all the schools do not comply with the order within two months, the affected parents will have the option of filing a contempt petition in the High Court.Shashwat Anand, Advocate High Court (Advocate for the petitioners)

Parents will get this waived fee as a discount. This order of the court has given great relief to crores of parents of the state. Because the private schools were not even following the orders of the Uttar Pradesh government by charging arbitrary fees during Covid. Our argument was that in the year 2020-21, no service was provided except online tuition in private schools. Even after that, charging fees is completely wrong. We have also cited the Supreme Court judgment in Indian School Jodhpur vs. State of Rajasthan in support of our arguments, in which the Supreme Court has said that private schools demanding fees without providing any service amounts to profiteering and commercialization of education.
-Yanendra Pandey, Advocate High Court (Advocate for the petitioners)

Private schools did not increase fees for two years

Prayagraj. During the Corona period, on the orders of the state government, private schools did not increase the fees in the session 2020-21 and 2021-22. School managers say that according to the rules of Uttar Pradesh, schools can increase fees by up to 10 percent every year. But the fee was not increased even by one rupee for two years. Fees were also waived off for all the parents who could not deposit the fees. Refusing to comment on the High Court’s order, the school administrators have said that they will consider the state government’s order in this regard.

Admission in government schools had increased during the Corona period

Prayagraj. Due to not being able to pay the hefty fees of private schools during the Corona period, many parents got their children’s names cut off and got them enrolled in government schools. The number of students in government schools in most of the districts including Prayagraj had increased during that period. Government schools including Government Inter College, Government Girls Inter College, which had English medium section, suddenly the number of children increased.