With SSLC exams scheduled in less than a week, a student has claimed that she didn’t get her hall ticket due to non-payment of school fees. However, the school administration refuted her allegations, saying that the student never registered for Class 10.

Narasimha Murthy, the student’s father and an agriculturist, told The New Indian Express that the pandemic has thrown them into financial turmoil. "Part of the previous year's fees was pending, and we couldn’t pay this year too. I had a health condition as well. We were told that if we pay the fee for this year and last year, we would be given the hall ticket," he added.

Meanwhile, Vijaya Murthy, Principal of Alva's English Medium School, Moodbidri, told TNIE that the student's hostel and school fees were pending. When she was in Class 9 (2019-20), her father had assured the school that he would pay the fees by May (2020).

"When the parents were contacted for admission to Class 10 in May, they didn’t respond. We also approached them to start online classes, but they didn’t receive any of our calls," she added and said that since she was never formally admitted to school, the hall ticket was not issued.

Alva's Chairman Mohan Alva told TNIE that the generosity of the institute was being misused by a number of parents. There have been instances where they want quality education but don't pay fees, he said, adding that the institute is always ready to help genuine cases. "However, in this case, even the older sibling completed Class 12 without paying fees."