2 students of Apeejay School denied Class 10 board exam admit cards over non-payment of hiked fee

Apeejay School in Saket denied admit cards to two Class 10 students for unpaid fees, despite parents' attempts to settle the amount.

New Delhi

Under the policy, school buses must prominently display “School Bus”, while hired vehicles must carry “On School Duty.” (HT File)

The Apeejay School in Saket has reportedly denied admit cards to two Class 10 students for their board exams due to non-payment of hiked fees, for the past four academic years (2021-22 to 2025-26). The board exams are scheduled to start on February 17.

While parents of the two students alleged that they repeatedly tried to pay the fees approved by the directorate of education through cheques on time, the school reportedly refused to accept them, insisting on payment of hiked fees.

The school’s principal, Sujeet Eric Masih, said that allowing students who have not paid their fees to take the examinations would discriminate against other students who made timely payments.

“An amount exceeding ₹21 lakh has remained outstanding for nearly five years for these students. It is pertinent to note that all the other students except them have regularly paid their fees. The school applied the same standard uniformly and without discrimination,” the principal said.

Queries to the deputy director of education (south), director of the directorate of education Veditha Reddy and Delhi education minister Ashish Sood did not elicit a response.

When one of the parents, Harish Choudhary, wrote an email to the school complaining about being denied entry onto the premises to collect the admit card, the school principal replied stating that the admit card would be issued only after dues were cleared.

The email sent by school principal Sujeet Eric Masih to one of the parents, Harish Choudhary, read, “Clearance of outstanding fees dues of ₹6,52,037/- for issuance of admit card to your ward.”

A copy of the email was accessed by HT.

One of the students, who did not want to be identified, said that they waited at the school for two hours from 8.30am, as the school said it would issue admit cards on Saturday.

“When I reached the school, the guard checked my ID and asked me to wait for 10 minutes. We tried calling and messaging my class teacher, as well as contacting the reception and the principal, but received no response,” the student said. “After waiting for nearly two hours and trying every possible way to reach someone, my father and I returned home,” the student said.

Harish Choudhary, whose daughter is a national-level shooter, said, “Tomorrow is Sunday and we can’t approach court or any authorities. We only have Monday and that’s so little time.”

“We even attempted to pay the fees through authorities such as the district magistrate (south), who forwarded the cheque to the deputy director of education (south). The cheque, amounting to around ₹3 lakh, was retained by the school for three months before being returned, with a demand for the increased amount,” said Choudhary.

He said that while the school didn’t accept the fee, they continued to accept payments for uniforms, stationery, and board examinations through cash and UPI modes.