THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Child Rights Commission’s directive to implement a 25% fee reduction in schools owing to the Covid pandemic has met with stiff opposition from unaided school managements. The Council of CBSE Schools Kerala (CCSK), representing the managements of over 760 schools in the state, has urged the rights panel to reconsider its fiat in the light of court orders on the matter.
The CCSK referred to the recent judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court in connection with a case filed by parents regarding payment of school fees during the Covid pandemic-related lockdown period.While refusing to issue any directive to the government to prescribe a uniform fee in all CBSE schools, the High Court also referred to an earlier apex court judgment which held that “curtailing the fee structure or manipulating it would lead to unwarranted consequences affecting the excellence of such (private unaided) educational institutions.”
“There cannot be a uniform fee structure across the schools which also means that there cannot be a uniform reduction as well. Most of the schools are already allowing enough concessions in the existing fee structure of the respective school based on individual circumstances,” CCSK patron Indira Rajan said in a letter to the Commission. In the letter, she contended that there was hardly any instance of any hike in school fees from last year. The letter also pointed out the relevant part of the judgment which said: “whether there is lockdown or not, monthly salaries for the teaching and non-teaching staff have to be paid.”
Ball in govt’s court
Child rights commission chairperson K V Manoj Kumar told TNIE that the panel’s directive was meant to draw the government’s attention to the need to evolve a mechanism to regulate school fees. The HC judgment had also indicated that setting up such a regulatory mechanism was a policy decision to be taken by the government.
Manoj also clarified why the Commission also insisted that the fee reduction norm should be made applicable to schools functioning in the public sector as well. “Some aided school managers fleece students under various other heads. The directive was meant to curb such unhealthy practices,” he added.