Pvt unaided schools charitable institutions, must ensure online education for all, govt tells HC

The Delhi government has informed the Delhi high court that all private unaided schools, being charitable institutions, cannot resort to profiteering and they must ensure that in emergent situations, every student has access to proper education.

The Delhi government has informed the Delhi high court that all private unaided schools, being charitable institutions, cannot resort to profiteering and they must ensure that in emergent situations, every student has access to proper education. To that end, it is the responsibility of schools to provide students with learning materials online without any discrimination or hinderance, the government argued.

A file photo of Delhi high court in New Delhi.

The Delhi government was responding to a plea by the action committee unaided recognized private schools, an umbrella body of 400 private schools, which had sought the quashing of two orders of the city government, issued on April 18 and August 28, restraining schools from collecting annual charges, development fee and any other fee other than the tuition fee.

The government told justice Jayant Nath that the acute financial pressure and stress on the general public owing to the pandemic have not abated and, in such a situation, the attempt by the association to burden parents is “harsh”, “unjust”, “unfair” and “inequitable” to say the least.

The government further contended that on examination of the fee statement of private unaided schools, it was found that in most cases, the expenditure incurred on salary and establishment infrastructure was approximately 40%-60% of the tuition fee charged by schools.

It further said these educational institutions are bound to ensure that students are not harassed by the charging of any increased tuition fee or any other fee under a new head. It said some schools were found resorting to certain malpractices which were “inhumane”, especially in view of the outbreak of Covid-19.

Advocate Kamal Gupta, counsel for the action committee, said “the government of Delhi’s liking for vote bank politics has marred its understanding of devastating consequences upon private education. Property taxes, insurance, maintenance of buildings and infrastructure etc cannot be met from tuition fee”.

“What the government calls commercialisation in private schools, is in fact a fraction of cost of the education; the government’s per child expenditure is many times more than private schools. Annual charges and development fee, if not collected, would lead to closure of many schools,” Gupta said.

The government told the court that some private schools were not providing online learning material/classes to students whose parents have not paid or not agreed to pay the “illegally hiked fee”.

“Even though the tuition fee covered the cost towards salary, establishments, and curricular activities such as library, lab, science fee, computer fee, examination expenses, etc., some private schools were not paying salary to the teaching and non-teaching staffs in this ongoing lockdown or paying them less salary,” the affidavit filed on November 17 said.

Aprajitha Gautam, from the Delhi Parents Association, alleged that the Delhi government is not taking action against the erring schools which have violated the rules laid down by the authorities.

“The government’s stand in the court and on the ground is completely different. It is not taking action against several schools which continue to charge the development fee and annual charges. We had shared with the government a list of 76 schools which had violated the norms. However, no action has been taken against them,” she said.