Schools reopen for physical classes, Calcutta HC allows normal fees

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered that schools and other educational institutions will be permitted to charge fees according to their policy and arrangement with the students owing to remission of the Covid-19 pandemic and substantial normalisation of life.

The court directed that with prospective effect from February 16, its earlier order permitting deduction of 20 per cent of school fees will stand vacated. It also noted that the West Bengal government has allowed physical classes even in primary and upper primary schools with effect from Wednesday.

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"The schools and other educational institutions shall be permitted to charge fees according to their policy and arrangement with the students," a division bench comprising justices IP Mukerji and Moushumi Bhattacharya ordered.

Acting on a PIL and several other related petitions in which parents of students and around 145 schools were involved, the high court had on October 13, 2020, directed that the institutes could only charge fees for essential services rendered online, with a 20 per cent deduction.

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Noting that there is substantial remission of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the division bench observed that life in all spheres has become substantially normal. "Therefore, from now, education in all the schools and other educational institutions covered by this public interest litigation would be physical," the bench said. The court ordered that in case of any dispute between the school fees claimed and that payable according to a student for the period up to Friday, 50 per cent of the demand by the school or the admitted amount by the student, whichever is higher, has to be paid by March 15.

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The bench further directed that no coercive action like expulsion of any student from the school, withholding of admit card to board or school examination, holding back mark-sheets or certificates on the ground of default in payment of school fees, will be taken by the institutions covered by the litigation against any student till March 31 or until further orders, whichever is earlier.