‘Schools Should be Alive to Parents Hardships During Pandemic’: PIL In Bombay High Court Seeks Fee Reduction

A PIL is filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the fees charged by all aided and unaided schools in Maharashtra during the Covid-19 pandemic and has sought a 50% reduction in fees for the academic years 2020-22, citing the school’s unutilized facilities by students. In the alternative, the plea seeks directions to Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee to call for reports on the fee structure of each school for the academic year 2020-21 and ask the Committee to decide the fee afresh by considering the exigencies of the Covid-19 pandemic. Parents should be allowed to pay the fees in instalments, students should not be debarred from attending online or physical classes due to non-payment of fees, and board examination results shouldn’t be withheld, as per section 21 of the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act, 2011, the plea further states.