In the last one week, the school has restricted these students from attending classes. The students were regularly taken to the library, reception and different parts of the school during the school hours.
After the Delhi Public School (DPS) Indirapuram continued to restrict six students from attending classes over the fee dispute, the parents called the police on Wednesday morning. The students were again denied entry into classes and made to wait in the reception area.
It was only after the arrival of Police and their intervention, the school agreed to allow them into the classes.
In the last one week, the school has restricted these students from attending classes. The students were regularly taken to the library, reception and different parts of the school during the school hours.
Samar Bahadur Singh, the in-charge of Neeti Khand police chowki, Indirapuram, criticised the school administration for their discrimination towards these students. “Such actions are against the law and it also affects the kids psychologically,” Singh said.
Singh also warned the administration not to repeat the act else the proper action will be taken. School administration then assured that it will not bar students from attending the class. But, when agitated parents and the police demanded the assurance in writing, the administration did not oblige.
The school said that they are following the law. They defended their actions by alleging that the parents are having ill-intent. The head of administration, Vikas Sharma, said that the parents are just doing drama to avoid paying the fees.
Sharma alleged parents for not paying the complete fees of academic session 2017-18. However, parents claimed that they only annual fees were not paid by them.
When the parents present there contradicted with his statement and started producing fee receipts, Sharma changed his stance and said that only a part of the fees was paid. When asked what part of the total fees wasn’t paid, he admitted that the unpaid part of fees was the annual charges.
The parents had offered the school to take the fees like they were earlier charging till the time the clarity comes on the conflicting points of the ordinance. The action which school has been adamantly taking since last one week is a violation of an Act and two government orders. One being the DM’s order and other was Basic Shiksha Adhikari’s order.
The parents produced Ritu Maheshwari, DM Ghaziabad’s order addressed to all school where it was clearly mentioned that till the time the clarity comes from the administration over the fee calculation, the schools will neither charge raised fees nor they would expel, demote or restrict the students from attending the classes.
Right to Education Act 2009 states that the children can’t be held back and expelled on the grounds of the fee dispute.
While speaking to City Spidey, Rajesh Shrivas, BSA, said that during his visit to the school last Saturday, the school conceded that the students will be allowed to attend classes.
On being asked why RTE Act and DM’s order are not being implemented in the school, he shifted the responsibility to District Inspector of Schools (DIOS) stating that the matters related to fees are dealt by him. “BSA only deal subjects related to admissions,” he said.
When asked whether he could intervene in the matter of rustication, he said that he cannot as the matter is regarding the fee dispute. However, in Uttar Pradesh, the BSA is appointed as a nodal officer to take care of the issues of students up to class 8th.
On the other hand, the DIOS, Pankaj Pandey, said that the power to examine whether the charged fees are in accordance to the ordinance is only with the Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee (DFRC). He said that other officials can only coordinate.
He also said that both parents and schools should reach out to DFRC rather than requesting other bodies. “They are not approaching the right forum,” he said.
He alleged BSA for not taking interest in the matter. “The problem is that the BSA is not taking interest in this issue. If we (DIOS and BSA) put combined effort, the matter will be resolved timely,” DIOS said.
