The latest place to have witnessed the effects of demonetisation is the kindergarten department of a school in Gurgaon. Lions Public School, in Sector 10A, gave back old Rs 500 notes to 240 students, which it had collected to give them fresh fruits during school hours.
All kidergarten students received a circular — along with the old notes — saying that due to problems of cash flow, it had become difficult to give children their promised fresh fruit every day and hence the school was returning the money paid to them for the purpose. The school collected Rs 500 from every student for a quarter. The circular added that the practice would be resumed in the new academic session.
The move has taken parents by surprise, who are wondering if the school is trying to get rid of old notes to avoid government scrutiny.
City Spidey came across a post on Facebook by one of the parents about the state of affairs. The post was, however, soon removed. When we tried to speak to the parents, most of them refused to talk, fearing harassment for their child in school.
But one parent shared her opinion with us. Dolly Gulati said, “The school is asking for new currency notes for payment of fees and other charges. So if they are refunding money for the fruits, they should do it in the new currency and not the defunct ones. This means their sole purpose is to do away with old notes.”
When City Spidey contacted Rajeev Kumar, the school manager, he said, “The school collects money from students in April for fresh fruits. But now we have to get these old notes exchanged. We did not keep a record of these collections or put this money in a bank account, as the cash was being spent on a daily basis.”
It is interesting to note that the total amount the school "refunded" through old notes was Rs 1,20,000.
The image one of the parents posted on her Facebook page
