Private school bodies welcome fee cut order

The private schools in the state have hailed the the Karnataka High Court’s order to reduce fee by 15 per cent. The private schools associations had challenged the 2020-21 order by the state government reducing the school fee by 30 per cent during the academic year.

“We respect the court order and ask our member-schools to comply with the order,” said D Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka. However, he requested the parents to follow the order. “The department of public instruction has to issue an order directing parents to follow the court order,” he added.

According to sources in the industry, several private school managements have already given 15 per cent and some even more than that. “We have given a 20 per cent discount to all students considering the pandemic situation,” said a representative of a private unaided school in Bengaluru.

The private school managements claim that the court order won’t affect collection of fees for the 2021-22 academic year.

Also read: High Court directs 15% cut in private schools fee for 2020-21

“It was very clear in our petition to the court. We were challenging the 30 per cent fee reduction ordered by the government for the 2020-21 academic year and the court order will be applicable only for the said academic year,” said Shashi Kumar.

If, in case, the schools collected 100 per cent fees during the 2020-21 academic year, they can adjust the same this year or during the next academic year by giving 15 per cent discount.

The schools that have complied with the government order by reducing the fee by 30 per cent are in a fix now. “We have followed the order and given 30 per cent discounts. Now, we cannot ask parents to pay back or to recover the same in this year’s fees,” said a principal of a school affiliated with CBSE.

Lokesh Talikatte, president of Registered Unaided Private Schools Association Karnataka, said, “The high court has finally resolved the 2020-21 fee row and we will honour the court order and also request all our member-institutions to follow the same.”

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