Pay fee dues by November, else no online education: Unaided schools in Nagpur

NAGPUR: Citing severe financial crisis, private unaided schools in the city have asked parents to clear the dues by November or face removal of their wards from online classes.
Schools affiliated to Unaided Schools Welfare Association Nagpur (USWAN) are sending a common letter, on the institute’s letterhead, to parents explaining the financial condition and also debunking rumours related to fee waiver floating on social media.
The four-page letter also lists details of court cases related to school fee and the current status.The letter, which seems to have been drafted in consultation with a lawyer, goes a step further and quotes verbatim orders issued by the court regarding fee-related disputes.
The letter goes on to say, “There is currently no directive either by the state or central government, nor is there any order by the high court or Supreme Court to reduce fee or discontinue it.” This point seems to be targeted specifically on a fake message floating around in various parents association groups, which claims that Supreme Court has asked schools to reduce fee after eight states had approached the top court.
Till date, none of the parents’ organizations from Nagpur have approached the courts. Many of the schools claim no complaint was received through the aggrieved parents’ forum as defined under the Regulation of Fee Act.
The letter also alleges that activists with ‘vested interests and political ambitions’ are ‘poisoning’ the minds of parents by instigating them ‘to not pay the fee’. “It is sad to see that even those with the means to pay are not doing so,” said trustee of a USWAN member school.
Some schools are now giving a deadline of November first week to parents to pay the fee, else online classes will be stopped. However, deputy director of education Anil Pardhi has warned schools not to deprive students of online education.
In the same letter, schools say they are willing to help parents facing financial distress. For this, parents have to approach the school with IT returns of the last three years and a written application detailing the financial crisis being faced by them.