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regular-article-logo Tuesday, 23 April 2024

Finance worries for education stakeholders in Calcutta

Schools send fees notice to parents with Supreme Court rider

Jhinuk Mazumdar Calcutta Published 01.11.20, 01:09 AM
In the notice to parents, a school has said an “overwhelmingly large majority of parents” have cleared their dues till September that has enabled the school to meet its various “financial commitments”.

In the notice to parents, a school has said an “overwhelmingly large majority of parents” have cleared their dues till September that has enabled the school to meet its various “financial commitments”. Shutterstock

Several city schools have communicated to parents the revised fee structure, complying with the directions of Calcutta High Court.

The revision, though, is subject to the final outcome of the special leave petition or the final adjudication of the appeals in the Supreme Court, the schools have said.

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Schools have either uploaded the fee structure on their websites or have sent notices to parents through school apps.

In the notice to parents, a school has said an “overwhelmingly large majority of parents” have cleared their dues till September that has enabled the school to meet its various “financial commitments”.

A new-age school has drawn the notice of parents to “substantial bank borrowings” to create “infrastructure”.

La Martiniere for Boys and La Martiniere for Girls have uploaded the revised fee structure and said: “The updated fee structure is pursuant to the judgement of Calcutta High Court… the said fees structure, ie, 80:20, shall be subject to the final outcome of the SLP... pending before the Hon’ble Supreme Court.”

“Any modification of the 80:20 fees structure (as prescribed by the high court) by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the aforementioned SLP, would ipso-facto mean that the guardian/parents will have to deposit the default fees in due course,” the La Martiniere schools have said.

St Paul’s Mission School has made the announcement on its website.

St James’ School posted a notice on Saturday on the website that said: “As per the ruling of Calcutta High Court, parents are informed that they may pay 80 per cent tuition fees; 20 per cent has been waived by Calcutta High Court.”

Some schools under the Church of North India have filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against the high court order.

At the La Martiniere schools, for the fourth quarter the tuition fee for Classes IX to XII, which was Rs 16,500 has become Rs 13,200. For Classes I to VIII, Rs 17,500 has become Rs 14,000 in the fourth quarter.

The reduction in session fees and infrastructure development fees have been mentioned in the first quarter fees.

At South Point, the Class VI monthly fees will be Rs 3,780 instead of Rs 4,725. For Class XI (science), the reduced monthly fee is Rs 4,480 instead of Rs 5,600.

At The Newtown School, the monthly tuition fee for Classes XI and XII (science) will be Rs 5,600 instead of Rs 7,000 and for Classes VI to X, it will be Rs 4,800 instead of Rs 6,000.

The Newtown School, in the notice, has asked parents to keep certain facts in mind before taking the final decision. “We have created a world class infrastructure for our students which has led to a substantial capital expenditure which in turn required substantial bank borrowings,” the school, which is in its sixth year, said. “During the pandemic, because of non-payment of fees by many parents, the outflow on account of expenses and obligations has continued to be more than the inflow on account of fees.”

South Point High School, in the notice to parents, has thanked them for clearing their dues that has helped the school meet its financial commitments.

In its notice, South Point has said: “At the outset we are thankful that an overwhelmingly large majority of guardians have cleared their fees well within due date(s) resulting in the school receiving almost 98 per cent of the fees from April-September 2020.

“The few who could not do so have been granted time and provided with the facility of paying the dues in a staggered manner or in instalments without any late fine as well as granted waivers. This has enabled the school to meet its various financial commitments on account of operational and establishment cost, administrative cost, finance cost and other costs and expenses and in turn motivated our teachers to upskill themselves and deliver quality education through the online mode (both synchronous and asynchronous) to all of our students.

“The school, in compliance with the operational part of the directions of the Hon’ble High Court and pending the final adjudication of the appeals in the Hon’ble Supreme Court, would like to inform the guardians about various decisions taken by it with respect to school fee, in relation to their wards.”

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