Friday, February 6, 2009

Violations of summer vacation tuition fee remain unchecked

Taking undue advantage of the new academic session which has been advanced from August 1 to April 1, many private schools are forcing their students to pay their tuition fee for the summer vacations (June and July) by March 10 at the latest.

According to notices issued to students by a number of private schools, parents have been asked to deposit the tuition fee for June along with the tuition fee for February and July with the fee for March.

The managements of such schools in their circulars have even warned parents that if students failed to deposit the tuition fee for both the months of the summer vacations by March 10, they will not be allowed to appear in the upcoming annual examinations or their results will be withheld.

Surprisingly, even those students who will be appearing in their Class X annual examinations, scheduled to be held in March, and thus will no longer be students of schools are also being forced to pay their tuition fee for the summer vacations.

Moreover, all those students who intend to move to some other schools during the next academic session are also being asked to pay the tuition fee for the summer vacations, though, according to the rules, the right to charge the summer vacations fee lies with only those schools where students will be studying in the next academic session.

A number of parents have protested over the use of strong language by the managements of schools regarding fee collection, saying that although they already have intimated the schools that their children will be seeking admissions to some other schools in the next academic session, they are still being forced by schools to pay the summer vacations fee.

“Isn’t it a joke that we have been asked to pay the summer vacations’ tuition fee of our children in their present schools and as well as in those schools where our children will be studying during the next academic session?” wondered a woman who said she wanted to get her child admitted to some other school in the next academic session.

A couple of parents rang up Dawn to complain that operators of school vans had also threatened them by saying they would not provide services if they did not get, in advance, van charges for the summer vacations, while school managements had also warned them that they would not allow their children to sit in exams or would withhold their results till the clearance of the summer vacations tuition fee.

Some other parents whose children will be appearing in Class X annual examinations in March have complained that school managements have demanded that the tuition fee for the summer vacations be paid, although their children will no longer be students of these schools in June and July.

When an official of the provincial Directorate of Private Educational Institutions was contacted by Dawn, he said that no school could charge the summer vacations fee from those students whose parents have already informed school administrations in writing that their children would be seeking admission to some other school in the next academic session.

He said that schools could also not charge the fee from those students who were appearing in their Class X examinations this year. (Dawn)

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