Provide 15% fee refund charged during COVID-19 period: Allahabad HC asks UP pvt schools

Allahabad: In a huge relief for parents, the Allahabad High Court has directed all private schools in the state to provide a 15 percent rebate on the total fees charged during the COVID-19 period in the year 2020-21.

The HC’s decision on Monday came on a petition filed by the parents regarding the regulation of school fees deposited during the corona period.

A division bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice JJ Munir has directed the schools to make adjustments in the next session for the total fees taken during the 2020-21 academic year.

Also, for the students who have left the school, the institute will have to return 15% of the fees collected in the year 2020-21, the order stated. For this, the HC has granted the schools two months to complete the process.

The parents had urged before the high court that no service except online tuition was provided in the private schools for the year 2020-21. Thus charging even a single rupee more than the tuition fees is nothing but profiteering and commercialization of education, the plea said.

The petitioners also cited the recent judgment of the Supreme Court in Indian School, Jodhpur versus the State of Rajasthan in support of their contention. The apex court has held that private schools demanding fees without providing any services amounts to profiteering and the commercialisation of education.