Pune Taking cognisance to the plight of parents of 150 students who were expelled by a Pune-based school citing non-payment of fees, the education department officials last Thursday issued a notice to the school, ordering the renewal of admissions.
The case was related to Dnyanganga education English medium school near Sinhagad Road that had issued leaving certificates to 150 students, citing an order of the Bombay high court, alleging non-payment of fees. The parents, who had paid an amount of ₹25,000 as fee, claimed that the increased amount of ₹30,000 demanded by the school was illegal.
Agitating against the issue, more than 200 parents along with their wards had assembled near the office of the deputy director (DyDe) of education on May 29. Their protest prompted Sunil Chauhan, director of primary education, and Dinkar Temkar, deputy director of education, to issue a notice to the school, on May 31, ordering the school to renew admissions of all the students whose parents have paid ₹25,000 as fee.
“The decision was an outcome of the meeting last Thursday, where the education officers heard our concerns and drafted the notice. The school is exploiting two lines of the high court order which gives it the authority to discontinue admissions if the fee is not paid. Based on that, on Saturday, the school authorities had issued a letter to us and asked us to collect our deposit of ₹10,000 as the completion of the cancellation procedure. However, we have paid the legal fee of ₹25,000 already and are questioning the authenticity of the amount cited by the school,” said Amit Dharane, one of the parents.
{{/usCountry}}“The decision was an outcome of the meeting last Thursday, where the education officers heard our concerns and drafted the notice. The school is exploiting two lines of the high court order which gives it the authority to discontinue admissions if the fee is not paid. Based on that, on Saturday, the school authorities had issued a letter to us and asked us to collect our deposit of ₹10,000 as the completion of the cancellation procedure. However, we have paid the legal fee of ₹25,000 already and are questioning the authenticity of the amount cited by the school,” said Amit Dharane, one of the parents.
{{/usCountry}}The school, on the other hand, despite repeated attempts was unreachable for a comment.