LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government on Friday released a government order (GO) directing all the private schools in the state to adjust 15 per cent excess fees which they had charged during the Covid pandemic period (2020-21) in the current academic session in compliance with the order of Allahabad High Court.
The GO states that the amount should be returned to those students, who had left the schools. Special Secretary, Rupesh Kumar said that if any student/guardian/parent-teacher association was aggrieved by non-compliance of the above instructions, they should approach the District Fee Regulatory Committee with a complaint under Section 8 of the Uttar Pradesh Self-Financed Independent Schools (Fee Regulation) Act, 2018. “The committee will take appropriate decision on their complaint,” said the officer.
Kumar said the order dated April 27, 2020, has asked all schools of all boards operating in the state not to increase the fee, “But if the schools charged 15 per cent of the calculated amount of the excess fee in the academic session 2020-21, it should now be adjusted.” Significantly, the Allahabad HC, on January 6, 2023, had directed all schools in the state to provide a 15 per cent rebate to the students on the total fees charged during the Covid in 2020-21 and adjust it in the next session.
Anil Agarwal, president of the Unaided Private Schools Association of UP said, “If there are complaints by parents against any school violating it,it should be questioned.”