• Fee for pre-primary school

My daughter is going to pre-primary school here at Navi-Mumbai. I have paid an annual fee of 30,000/- at the time of admission begining of this academic session. The school is organizing an annual day for which it is demanding 2,200 additional money. I feel the amount is very very high for a small 2.5 year old and this is their way of earning money. 

Please advice if this is an illegal practice to collect such money for annual day, denying the payment of which means debarring my child's participation at the Annual day. As the child is having to stand out during practice, it is causing her mental dissatisfaction.
Asked 10 years ago in Business Law

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11 Answers

1. Well the private education filed is still not covered by any specific law , not it comes under the prview of writ jurisdiction and taking this opportunity the schools often fleece the parents.

2. Do not protest this practice individually as your daughter may singled put for this. Try to rope in other parents as well and I believe you would find many more like minded people.

3. Taking all of then , you in unison with other parents submit kind of representation.protest so the school may not indulge in this type of things. The school will ill afford to antagonise so many of disgruntled parents.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
23228 Answers
514 Consultations

1. The practice is illegal, but the legal remedy available is very limited.

2. The schools cannot charge separately for organizing an extra curricular activity like annual day. It is totally unheard of.

3. Private schools are beyond the realm of the education department of the state in so far as fixing admission fee and other fee is concerned, albeit the legal recourse before a court of law is open to you.

4. If you are able to bring a few other aggrieved parents on board with you then all of you can bring a class action against the school in a court of law to restrain it from adopting and/or following this practice. Having said this, there is no bar to initiating unilateral action by you.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30776 Answers
972 Consultations

1) the pre-primary section is included in the Fee Regulation Act,

2) PTA executive committee consists of pre-primary, primary and Secondary parents, which decides the fee structure

3) however there is lot of confusion as to governing body which will govern these schools .

4) you can lodge complaint with Deputy director education , BMC and PTA since there is no clarity on the issue

5) also gather other parents and raise issue in the media regarding exorbitant demands raised by school for attending annual day function

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96972 Answers
7828 Consultations

1) dont mention about proceeding legally against the school .

2) your litigation expenses would far out weight Rs 2200

3) it should be a representation signed by parents of pre primary school made to PTA committee

4) complain to Dy Director education and other authorities against school if you so desire

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96972 Answers
7828 Consultations

1. There is no law in our Country restricting private schools in charging abnormal fees,

2. Your solo protest in this regars will not yield any possitive result,

3. You alongwith other fellow sufferers can submit a joint memorandum before the school authority in this regard,

4. Do not lodge your protest alone in the interest of your daughter.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27461 Answers
726 Consultations

1. What is the objective of this letter?

2. Do you expect that the school authorities will change their decision on receipt of your this letter?

3. Your daughter has already been discriminated for your not paying the said Rs.2,200/-,

4. The school authority may further discriminate your daughter and such discrimination will be difficult to be proved by you,

5. You can write the said letter if you are ready for long legal battle which will involve amount in multiples of the said Rs,2,200/- and your daughter's peace.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27461 Answers
726 Consultations

1. The letter is ok except the mention of proceeding legally against the school.

2. Filing a lawsuit in a court is an expensive proposition. You may have to shell towards the fees of your lawyer 100 times the amount of annual day charges demanded by the school. You are the best judge of whether it will be viable for you to initiate the legal proceedings against the school or not.

3. Furthermore, the school authorities may discriminate against your daughter on one pretext or another.

4. The school is not going to change its decision on the basis of your letter. If you want to start the legal proceedings against the school then do it quietly.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30776 Answers
972 Consultations

1)just delete sentence regarding proceeding legally against the school .

2) you should request school to review its decision of charing Rs 2200 per student as already tuition fees of Rs 30,000 has been paid by the parents .

3) PTA details would be with the school . as mentioned earlier every school needs to have PTA committee consisting of parents of re primary , primary and secondary school parents which decide fee structure

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96972 Answers
7828 Consultations

Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act, 2011,will be implemented from the academic session 2015-16 in order to do away with the problems of exorbitant fee hike in private schools across Maharashtra. All private schools, including aided and unaided, have to submit the fee structure to the education department for approval. it makes it mandatory for them to submit their fee structures to the education department at least six months before the academic session begins.

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96972 Answers
7828 Consultations

1. You should understand that education department of the state has no authority to regulate the fees which the private schools may charge.

2. Unless you really intend to go to the court against the school it is not advisable to send the letter in your individual capacity to the school authorities. The letter would have more weightage if it bears the signature of more than one signatory.

3. Delete the sentence wherein you warn the school of going to court.

4. PTA details can be obtained only from the school.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30776 Answers
972 Consultations

1. Avoid the part wherein action against the school has been mentioned,

2. Rather draw the attention of the school authorities about the factr that Rs.30,000/- has already been paid by the parents towards the tution fees,

3. Request the School to review and withdraw its decision to further charge Rs.2,200/- for ornagising annual day,

4. The school is supposed to have PTA wherein you can raise this topic to organise joint protest.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27461 Answers
726 Consultations

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