Parents of the school going children who have moved the top court hail from Rajasthan, Odisha, Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Maharashtra.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court by the parents of children from different States seeking declaration of moratorium or deferment of payment of school fees during the COVID-19 induced lockdown.
The plea sought directions to the state governments to tell private unaided/aided schools not to charge any fees from any enrolled students for a period of three months starting from April or till the commencement of classes physically.
The manner in which online classes are conducted and the students from economically weaker sections are unable to benefit from the same due to lack of resources is also touched upon in the plea. The plea adds, “Children and students might be exposed to hazards for the online education and the need for uniform and safer guidelines all over the country for implementation of the online education has become necessary, failure to do so by the competent authorities may result in numerous cases of side effects of such uncontrolled and non regulated online education for the lakhs of students country wide.”
It said full fees should not be charged for online classes and claimed that several schools are charging extra fees for online classes. It also sought to ensure that the Centre and state governments should direct private unaided and aided schools to not strike out/oust students or levy any penal/surcharge over and above the school fees for non-payment of fees by enrolled students on account of lockdown.
The plea said that parents are facing constant financial and emotional hardships during the lockdown and it may leave a few of them with no option but to withdraw their children or students from schools.
Therefore, the petitioners have approached the Supreme Court to address their grievances as regards the payment of school fees during this time.
