Keeping in mind the welfare of teachers and staff, the Chhattisgarh HC on Monday quashed the government order that barred schools from charging fees and permitted private schools to collect tuition fee. The high court directed the private schools to ensure that the salary of teaching and non-teaching staff is met first.

Justice P. Sam Koshy said that the schools cannot withhold or reduce the salary of any of their existing staff and they should be paid the amount that they were drawing prior to the lockdown period.

The court also directed schools not to hike or revise their tuition fees until the situation normalises and that the parents be given options to pay fees monthly, bimonthly or quarterly whichever is convenient to them. It also directed them to ensure that online classes are accessible to all students. The order stated, “If a candidate is not in a position to access the online education facility, the institutions should evolve a system of providing such study materials to the student so that his studies are not interrupted.”

The Chhattisgarh HC was hearing the petition filed by Bilaspur Private School Management Association Society challenging the order of the government that barred private schools from collecting tuition and other fees from parents. The petition stated that each of the educational institutions associated with the petitioner also have large number of teaching, non-teaching and other staff and their respective families are, if not totally, substantially dependent upon the salary/wages that the schools pay them. The association said its members were getting no support from the state government and fees was the only source of their income.

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