The Uttar Pradesh government has banned any increase in school fees across all the boards for the upcoming academic session (2021-2022) owing to the coronavirus pandemic situation, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said on Thursday.

Sharma, who also holds the portfolio of the Secondary Education department, in a statement said many families are affected economically due to the COVID-19 second wave and schools are physically closed while online classes are going on. "Keeping this in mind, the government has taken a balanced decision so that the common man does not have to bear the extra load and also schools could provide salaries to teachers and other staff," he said.

The Deputy CM said schools can take fees in accordance with the arrangements they had for the 2019-20 session as the fees were not hiked last year also due to a similar situation during the first wave. "Those who have taken hiked fees in this academic session should adjust it in future and also no transportation fees should be charged for the days that the schools are closed," he ordered. Sharma also said if parents are not able to pay three months advance fees, they should be given an option to pay monthly and should not be forced to pay in one instalment itself.

He said activities like computer, sports, science laboratory, library, annual function related fees should also not be charged to the students. "If the parents of a student are suffering from COVID-19, their current month's fees could be adjusted in the next month's fees on their written request," Sharma said.

Schools should regularly make payments to teachers and their staff, he further said.