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The Gujarat HC by the division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice J. B. Pardiwala quashed a government order restraining private unaided schools from collecting tuition fees until they reopened, stating that such an injunction will force the small institution to shut down. Further, the court has said that the state and representatives of private unaided schools should convene a meeting and try to conclude a solution so that the interest of parents of students and schools can be balanced in these hard situations.
“We request the State Government to once again convene a meeting with the office-bearers of the association of unaided private schools and try to arrive at some equitable understanding. In other words, the Government should make all possible endeavors to strike a balance to protect the interest of the parents as well as the management of the private unaided schools.”
(Gujarat High Court)
The Court emphasized that keeping this pandemic situation in mind and the severity of COVID 19 it is feasible that the education should remain remote to maintain the social distancing as the children are first priority.
“Children are our first priority right now. A large study from South Korea, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S., found that children aged 9 and under infected others in their households just 5.6 percent of the time, while children aged 10 to 19 spread the virus at the same rate as the adults, nearly 19 percent of the time. Trusting science and keeping in the mind the statistics, reopening schools, and starting in-person classes remains out of question. For the safety and wellbeing of our children, education must continue to be delivered remotely.”
The Government Resolution which was issued on 16 July was under question, the Gujarat High Court set aside Clause 4.1, 4.3, 4.4.
The Court stated that the whole country is going through a health crisis and schools and teachers are working hard to cope up with the situation. Taking online classes is a tedious job and their hard work and efforts shouldn’t be ignored and it is acceptable to charge tuition fees for such efforts. The top priority of both parents and school is children and as studies show missing schools for a long period of time can have significant impacts on the cognitive and social development of the child. Therefore, parents must acknowledge that online classes are not futile efforts and schools should be paid appropriately for their services. And, on the other hand, schools should be conscious while charging fees as this pandemic has caused economic instability to many families. Many parents have lost their jobs or working on very low salaries and it would be unfair for them to pay for suspended school services.
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