Parents and students launch protest after Dnyanganga high school expels 150 students for non-payment of fees
The authorities of the school said that they have received permission from the high court to cancel admissions of the students whose parents had failed to pay the fees.
More than 200 parents, along with their children, assembled at Dnyanganga education English medium school, Sinhgad Road, on Monday, to protest the school’s decision to expel 150 students on grounds of non-payment of fees. The school had issued leaving certificates to 150 students, citing the order of the Bombay high court.
The authorities of the school said that they have received permission from the high court to cancel admissions of the students whose parents had failed to pay the fees, despite several reminders. However, the parents complained that they were issued the school leaving certificates despite full payment of fees.
“If the parents refused to pay the fees as determined by the applicant (school), which at the relevant time did not come under the purview of the act, the management cannot be expected to run the school without there being the requisite funds. We are of the considered view that if the parents refuse to pay fees as determined by the school, the Applicant would always be at liberty to cancel the admission of the students, whose parents refuse to pay the fees,” the high court statement had mentioned. The parents, refuted the order, and paid ₹25,000 as fees, on May 10, instead of the stipulated fee of ₹30,000.
Citing the order, Jayesh Katkar, executive president of zeal education trust, which runs the school, said, “The fee structure cannot change as per the whims and fancies of the parents. They cannot suddenly determine a sum and assume it to be the final fee. We had charged the same amount for the past academic year as well.”
The school had also given the parents time until May 18 to pay the fees, before issuing the leaving certificates.
“We had a total of 475 parents not paying the fees in the last year, before the high court passed this judgement. We do not want our children to suffer, but how are we expected to run the school properly, if we do not get the full fees? This is a fight for our teachers who have been striving to give these students the best education, despite the lacunae emerging out of non-payment of fees,” he added.
The parents, however, complained that the school has illegally charged them a higher amount, along with refundable deposit of ₹10,000, in addition to other non-refundable deposits, in the past few years. Some of them also claimed to have received the leaving certificate even after paying the fees.
“We have a proof from the deputy director of the education department which allows us to make a payment of ₹25,000 as the fee. In spite of this, we were sent the leaving certificate citing non-payment of fees as the reason, which is illegal. This will leave our children at a helpless spot as other schools will not admit our children assuming that we will not pay the fees,” said Amit Dharane, one of the protesting parents.
The school authorities, in order to resolve the issue, has agreed to enrol the students once the full fees is paid.