Hearing on a public interest litigation against private and aided schools charging fees during the lockdown period, the Uttarakhand High Court has directed the State and Central Governments to respond by May 12. The petition was heard by the division bench of justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ravindra Maithani on Tuesday.
Dehradun resident Japindra Singh had filed the PIL seeking three-month exemption of school fees and the formulation of a proper and practical policy for this purpose. The petitioner stated that the State Government has directed the private and aided schools to charge only tuition fees during the lockdown period. Many schools are pressurising parents of students to pay the fees for March and April. In some cases, the parents don’t have the means to enable their children to undertake online classes and there are also internet issues in some areas. Such classes should instead be conducted on the government’s television channel- Doordarshan because televisions are common in all homes and this channel is received in every home. This will make it convenient for the students to continue their students, the petitioner has contended.