Children, who do not have access to the online course, cannot be asked to pay the tuition fee, Uttarakhand High Court ordered on Tuesday. The court was hearing a PIL filed by Dehradun based Japinder Singh, in which he had raised the issue that many schools were charging hefty fee from the parents regarding online classes during the lockdown period.
"It does appear that subtle means are being adopted by these private institutions to force parents to pay the tuition fees. Since payment of tuition fee by students is voluntary, none of the private schools shall send e-mails or WhatsApp messages or any form of communication to the parents calling upon them to pay the tuition fees," the court said.
The court has also asked the Secretary, School Education, to call for information from all the District Education Officers regarding the number of private schools, in their respective districts, which offer online courses, and the number of students who have access to such online courses.
It said the information shall be obtained from each of these private schools as to whether tuition fees is being collected even from those students who have no access to the online course offered by the schools, and whether these schools have collected tuition fees from such students also.
"This information shall not only be collected from students of Class 1 to Class 10, but also with regards children who are undergoing their Upper Kindergarten. The Secretary, School Education, shall submit a detailed report in this regard to this Court by the next date of hearing," the court said.
The court also asked the Secretary, School Education consider the wisdom in conducting online programmes for children in Upper Kindergarten and examine whether this is just 'a ruse to collect tuition fee from them, and issue appropriate directions, to all such private schools, in this regard as he considers appropriate'.
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