Education dept directs Delhi School not to expel students who did not pay hiked fee

The education department on September 30, Monday directed the Maharaja Agrasen Model School in Pitampura to not remove school rolls students who have not paid fees, which were hiked without the department's approval.

The private unaided recognised schools in Delhi located on land allotted by the government are required to seek prior approval before increasing fees. In addition, the department also directed the schools to immediately withdraw notices which were issued on the fee hike since 2002 and ask to ensure, no student faces academic loss or ill-treatment due to the nonpayment of the fees. And the schools must reinstate students who were expelled over the issue.

But for around 150 parents who gathered outside the education department office for protest, they claim its only half battle won.
They mentioned that most of their demands are yet to be fulfilled , which includes revoking legal notices issues around 200 students, preventing the issuance of school, refunding illegally collected fees from parents in the last five years , taking action against the department for failing to enforce its orders , disclosing the approval fees and CAG audit of the school as well.

At the protest on Monday, a parent of a Class X student said, “I tried to keep this issue a secret from my daughter as I was afraid that she would feel stressed. But the school authorities threatened her with a fee demand letter before her mid-term examinations started…”

Similarly, another parent claimed of Class V, student were charged extra for their daughter’s Taekwondo classes by the school even when the fee structure includes activity charges. She had to seat alone in class when her classmates attended extracurricular activity classes – the parents were forced to pay the fees.

The talks are around centres on an alleged unauthorised fee hike, with the parents' association claiming the school increased fees the school increased fees by up to 193% since 2018 without the education department’s approval. As per parents, 113 students were sent notices for outstanding fees.