Action against pvt schools demanding fee during lockdown

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, April 5

The Education Department has initiated action against private schools demanding fee from parents during the lockdown.

Despite clear directions from the state government not to charge fee during this period, some private schools have been sending messages to parents for fee submission.

As per information, the department had issued an order on March 23, asking all private schools in the state to reschedule admissions for 2020-21.

The schools were directed to provide a window of at least 30 days for the submission of fee after the normalcy returned.

School managements had also been told not to charge late fee or fine from the students for this period. The department has regularly been warning schools of strict action for defying the orders.

“We have initiated action against La Foundation School, Sangrur, DAV Public School Bhupindra Road, Patiala, Bhupindra International School, Patiala, Delhi Public School, Ludhiana, and Mount Litera Zee School, Faridkot,” said Punjab Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla.

The minister said they had decided that in the future if they received any such complaint, they would get the school locked through the District Magistrate, get an FIR registered and then seek the school management’s reply.

“We have issued show-cause notices and given seven-day time to the schools to file their reply. If they fail to give a satisfactory reply, we will cancel their affiliation or no objection certificate (NOC),” Singla said.

“Parents can file such complaints on my email ID vijayindersingla@gmail.com,” he said.