Private schools continue to charge exorbitant fees in Delhi

Not complying with the Delhi government and high court's orders, some private schools continue to charge exorbitant fees in the national capital. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, private schools have been asked to reduce their fees by 15 per cent this year but some of them don't seem to be complying with it.

New Delhi: Even after the Delhi government and high court recently issued orders stating that all private schools in the national capital need to reduce their fees by 15 per cent this year, some schools don't seem to be complying with them and continue to charge exorbitant fees. Some schools are even accused of threatening to cut off the names of children in case of non-payment of fees, said sources.

While one school in Delhi's Pitampura talks of a 15 per cent reduction on annual charges and development fees in the current session only, whereas, some schools completely deny any waiver as such. According to an order, a 15 per cent discount is also to be given on the fees of the previous session but parents say that schools outrightly refuse to even talk about it. ETV Bharat also tried to talk about it to a private school, but it refused.

However, speaking to ETV Bharat, Shikha Bagga, secretary of 'Justice for All', an NGO, said that contempt notices have been given to many private schools regarding this.

Some private schools also manipulate the Delhi High Court order and put it in front of the parents. "Since not all parents are so aware or they do not want to get involved with the institution where their children study, they continue to endure the arbitrariness of schools. If parents get united and raise their voices against the arbitrariness of schools, then such problems can be curbed," Bagga said.

Bagga further said that the Directorate of Education and the Delhi High Court have also asked the schools to look at the problem of parents from a humanitarian point of view and try to give them more facilities accordingly but some private schools are not ready to obey even court's order.

It is worth mentioning that the Delhi High Court recently issued an order to cut the fees of private schools by 15 per cent, which has been carried out by the Directorate of Education (DoE), in order to prevent profiteering and commercialization in times of the Covid-19 pandemic.