During the hearing of a bunch of petitions filed by private unaided schools of Rajasthan against the state government’s order to give up 30 percent of the tuition fee during the COVID-19 pandemic, the bench agreed that schools had to reduce the fees.

The Apex Court asked schools and educational institutions not to debar any student from attending online or physical classes due to any outstanding or non-payment of fees.

With offline classes and campus facilities remaining closed during COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions and schools should reduce fees as the running costs have come down, perceive Supreme Court.

Bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari said that schools must not be insensitive to the problems faced by people amid the COVID-19 pandemic and should help students and their parents in these difficult times.

“In law, the school management cannot collect fees in respect of activities and facilities which are, in fact, not provided to or availed of by its students due to circumstances beyond their control. Demanding fees even in respect of overheads on such activities would be nothing short of indulging in profiteering and commercialization. It is a well-known fact and judicial notice can also be taken that due to complete lockdown, schools were not allowed to open for substantially long period during the academic year 2020-21. Resultantly, the school management must have saved overheads and recurring costs on various items such as petrol/diesel, electricity, maintenance cost, water charges, stationery charges, etc,” the bench stated.

It stated that the appellants are justified in assailing the order but they must not be rigid and insensitive to the aftermath of the pandemic. The bench said that the school management supposedly engaged in doing charitable activity of imparting education must take necessary remedial measures to mitigate the hardship suffered by students.

“It is for the school management to reschedule payment of school fees in such a way that not even a single student is left out or denied opportunity of pursuing his/her education, so as to effectuate the adage – LIVE & LET LIVE“, the court said.

“The appellants shall collect the annual school fees from their students as fixed under the Act of 2016, but by providing deduction of 15 percent on that amount in lieu of unutilized facilities by students during the relevant period of academic year 2020-21,” said the bench. The overheads and operational costs must have been saved but none of the parties produced accurate empirical data, bench agreed and said. It concluded that thus it assumes that school managements must have saved 15 percent of annual school fees.

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