On Friday, the Calcutta High Court ordered parents to pay at least 50 per cent of their children’s due school fees within three weeks, failing which it will mull over permitting educational institutions to take action that includes the suspension of students.
The HC further added with regards to students who appeared as well as passed Class 10 and 12 board examinations, that, a direction must be made to the respective board to “suspend their qualification and certificates till the school fees are paid.”
The order was announced after a division bench comprising Justices I. P. Mukherji and Moushumi Bhattacharya expressed their displeasure over certain financially stable parents allegedly misusing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, the bench has asked schools coming under the ambit of this public interest litigation (PIL) to send defaulting guardians a notice within a week citing the outstanding fees to date from March 2020.
The court stated, “We are sad and annoyed to know that although the economic situation is much better now than in 2020 and that most persons have learnt how to adjust their lives to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, quite a significant number of parents and guardians of the students of various schools and other teaching institutions have taken advantage of this order by not paying the school fees at all.”
The matter will be heard again on September 2, 2021.
