Chandigarh school demands fee by April end; education dept seeks explanation

Parents of class 11 students have received an email from Moti Ram Arya School, Sector 27, asking for the fee to be deposited

Ignoring directives of the education department, Moti Ram Arya School in Sector 27, Chandigarh, on Friday has asked parents of class 11 students to deposit school fees by end of April.

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Parents received an email from the school authorities on April 24, saying: “The provisional admission schedule to class 11 has been initiated. Parents who are willing to admit their ward in class 11 (non-medical stream) are requested to pay ₹18,140 by April 29, 2020, in the school account.”

The email also says that online classes for class 11 will begin on April 30, 2020.

The school is charging ₹7,695 as quarterly fees and ₹6,445 as annual charges. Additionally, admission charges of ₹3,500 were also levied on parents apart from ₹500 as refundable security. The school has fixed the total amount of fee for admission to class 11 at ₹18,140.

The email also said that parents who cannot deposit the whole amount, could pay a minimum ₹11,695 at the moment, while “the rest should be deposited in the first week of June.”

The email, however, stands in contradiction to the education department’s instructions to schools wherein it had directed them to defer payment of tuition fee for 2020-21 session because of the lockdown in Chandigarh. The department had said final dates for payment of fee would be announced once the lockdown is over, and parents would be given a month’s time for payment.

The school principal Seema Biji said, “This circular was only for those parents who were enquiring about provisional admission to class 11, as we were also going to start online classes for them.” She also said that students of other classes “have not been asked to pay fees till further orders from the department.”

Director of school education Rubinderjit Singh Brar told Hindustan Times that after seeking comments from the school about their move, it will be issued a show cause notice.

Also, schools have been asked to submit their balance sheets for scrutiny before April 30 to the education department.