UP govt issues GO asking schools to comply with Allahabad HC order over fee adjustment

LUCKNOW: Yogi Adityanath government released a government order (GO) directing all the private schools to adjust 15 per cent excess fees which they charged during the Covid period (2020-21) in the current academic session in compliance with the order of Allahabad High Court.

The GO said that the amount should be returned to those students, who had left the schools. Releasing the GO, 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.

The special secretary said the government had issued an order, dated April 27, 2020, asking all school boards operating in the state not to increase fees. “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,” said the order.

Significantly, the Allahabad High Court, on January 6, 2023, had directed all schools in Uttar Pradesh to provide a 15 per cent rebate to the students on the total fees charged during the Covid period in 2020-21.

However, the Unaided Private Schools Association of UP had claimed that most of the member schools had given huge concessions to students during the pandemic times. “If there are complaints by parents against any school violating it, that school should be questioned,” said Anil Agarwal, president of the Association.

Parents welcomed the High Court and state government orders of the 15 per cent fee adjustment, saying it would give some relief to parents who were hard-pressed as their income was hit due to job loss or salary cuts during the pandemic.