Uttarakhand education dept issues notice to 12 schools

DEHRADUN: The state education department has issued notices to 12 city schools for going against government order and pressurising students to pay their fees during the lockdown period. The notice clearly mentions that if the school is found guilty of violation of the order then it will be booked under the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1987. The schools have been asked to respond to the notice within a week.
The move comes after National Association for Parents and Students Rights (NAPSR) made the department aware of the several complaints from the parents of the students who are being pressurised by schools to pay fees despite the government’s order which clearly states that the schools can accept fees only from those parents who are willing to pay it voluntarily.
Also, many schools have been accused of asking for other fee charges like building fund, magazine charges, and others. This is also against the state government order which says the schools can only accept tuition fees if they are conducting online classes.
“We have received several complaints from parents regarding violation of the government order by schools. Therefore, we have sent notices to 12 schools of Dehradun and they have to respond within a week. Parents allege that these schools were constantly pressurising them for fees and even asking for advance fee,” said Asha Rani Painuly, chief education officer of Dehradun.
A day ago, the National Association for Parents and Students Rights (NAPSR) had lodged a complaint with the Union ministry of human resource and development and the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (Uttarakhand) against some private schools of Uttarakhand for “conducting online classes for students of lower primary classes (up to KG classes)”.