The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, October 13, 2020 ordered a 20 percent reduction in tuition fees for all “non-government aided schools” in the state for the current academic year. A division bench of justices Sanjib Banerjee and Moushumi Bhattacharya issued the order on a PIL plea filed by a guardians’ forum of 145 educational institutions. The court also formed a three-member committee to look into all fee-related grievances.

The court further directed private schools not to charge fees under the non-academic head. It said, “There will be no increase in fees during the financial year 2020’-21. From the month beginning April 2020 till the month following the one in which the schools reopen in the physical mode, all 145 schools will offer a minimum of 20 per cent reduction of fees across the board. Non-essential charges for use of facilities not availed of will not be permissible. For instance, additional charges for laboratory, craft, sporting facilities or extracurricular activities or the like will not be permissible during the months that the schools have not functioned in the physical mode. Session fees traditionally charged periodically will be permissible, but again, subject to a maximum of 80 per cent of the quantum charged for the corresponding period in the financial year 2019-’20.”

“The minimum figure of 20 per cent reduction in the monthly tuition fees will be on the basis of the tuition fees charged for the corresponding month in the previous financial year. If any school makes a loss as a consequence of following these directions, such loss can be made up in course of the next two financial years if normal physical functioning resumes by March 31, 2021,” it added.

Source: The Indian Express

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