A school in Dadar, Mumbai denied entry to three children for five months as their parents failed to pay the entire year’s fee in advance. The incident came into the light after the parents approached the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) on Friday.
The parent in his complaint stated his misery saying that he couldn’t afford to pay the yearly fee, which sums to Rs 2.1 lakh – for all his three children at once. He sought to pay it in monthly instalments, but then the school wanted payment for six months or an entire year.
Apart from the fees, the school has also asked him to pay a fine of Rs 7, 100 for failing to pay on time. “Despite repeated requests, the school hasn’t budged on its stand. Five months ago, they refused to allow my children on the premises,” said the parent as per a report in HT.
On the other hand, the school denied the allegations saying that the parent stopped sending kids to school, after they told him to clear his dues. “Last year, the fees were not paid and we had to pressure him into paying up. It was the same story this year too and so we asked him to pay in advance,” said the school chairman.
“We thought that he had got his kids admitted elsewhere,” he added.
Conversely, the education activists feel that the education department needs to end schools from gathering six month’s or one year’s fee in advance. “The schools pay teachers on a monthly basis. So why should parents be forced to pay at one go?” said Jayant Jain, president, Forum for Fairness in Education, an NGO as per a report in HT.
