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On Friday, the Supreme Court refused to entertain the plea seeking a waiver of private school fees.
The plea requested the Court to waive fees for 3 months starting April 1 till July 1, 2020, and collection mechanism of fees PAN India during the lockdown.
The Bench that comprised of Justice SA Bobde, AS Bopanna, and Subash Reddy stated that the bench wasn’t inclined to entertain the plea and wouldn’t want to discuss the merits of the issue and suggested that the petitioner may approach the High Court of respective states.
The CJI stated:
It would be a stroke of genius if you can solve everybody's problems. The problems of each state are different. It's a situation where facts of all states must be considered individually. We don't know how to solve the issue for the whole country, and that's what you've prayed for. Whether it is the release of prisoners, migrant workers, petitioners are moving this Court and feeling depraved that we are not giving the kind of relief sought. Why as a jurisdictional court can you not approach the High Court first?"
The PIL was filed by the Parent’s Association of 9 states, namely Rajasthan, Odisha, Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Madhya Pradesh. It was filed through Advocate Mayank Kshirsagar.
The relief was requested based on protecting one’s fundamental right to life and education which is guaranteed as per the Constitution, which the petitioner was being deprived of due to the ongoing Pandemic.
"the ongoing pandemic-COVID19 period and sustained financially incapacitated parents are bearing the brunt of the fees of the children, even after being faced with constant financial and emotional hardships which may leave a few of them with no option but to withdraw their children or students from seeking institutional/school education for an unforeseeable period of time."
The plea sheds light on various issues faced by parents due to the pandemic and the lockdown, which was imposed to protect the citizens against the same.
"Despite such financial crisis cited by the various parents as well as absolute non-functioning of any school and/or non discharging of any service, no private aided/unaided school granted a waiver/partial waiver of the entire school fees for such lockdown period commencing April 2020". Thus, the petitioner(s) state that it becomes the duty of the Government to protect the fundamental right of Right to Education in "event of the inability in payment of fees due to financial hardships of a parent, the protection which is provided for ... in the Constitution".
The parents also asserted that the online system of learning is subject to risks and hindrances. The EWS category students were being deprived of Education, as they don’t have access to the online format of Education due do inadequate internet facilities.
The parents also stated that usage of the internet at a young age exposes a child to a lot of risks like eyesight problems, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, extortion, etc.
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