PIL against charging school fee during lockdown

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court today issued notices to the government of the Union Territory of the J&K and other respondents, including Director, School Education, Kashmir, in a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to private schools that they should not charge any fee, including tuition and bus fee, from students for the closure period since August 2019, when Article 370 was revoked.

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 28

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court today issued notices to the government of the Union Territory of the J&K and other respondents, including Director, School Education, Kashmir, in a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to private schools that they should not charge any fee, including tuition and bus fee, from students for the closure period since August 2019, when Article 370 was revoked.

The respondents have been directed to file their response to the PIL by January 28, 2020, as it came up before a division bench headed by Chief Justice Geeta Mittal today.

In the PIL filed by Umar Farooq, hailing from Dialgam in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district through his lawyers advocates Jahangir Iqbal Ganai and Syed Musaib, it has been further said that government respondents should implement the Right to Education Act in letter and spirit in the newly carved-out Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

“While issuing notices to the government and other respondents, the court today directed them to file their response to the averments made in the PIL by or before January 28, 2020,” counsel Musaib told The Tribune.

“Due to the unprecedented situation in Jammu and Kashmir post July 2019, private schools remained non-functional due to one reason or another. Most of the schools in J&K have started pressurising parents to pay full monthly payments, including tuition fees, bus fee and other incidental charges,” the PIL states, adding that the right to free education is an essential sovereign function of the welfare state.

“Despite the fact that none of the aforesaid facilities have been utilised by schoolchildren, the parents are being told to pay the tuition fee. This despite the fact that their children have not taught by teachers during the period these remained closed,” the PIL states, praying that the court directs the respondents, including the Chief Secretary, UT of J&K, Commissioner Secretary, Education Department, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir and the Director, School Education, Kashmir, to ensure that no tuition fee, bus fee or any other incidental fee is charged from the students by any educational institutions in J&K from August 2019 onwards till normal class work resumes.