Karnataka schools to file police complaints against parents who have failed to pay fees

The Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka has decided to file police complaints against parents who have not paid the school fees as mandated by the High Court of Karnataka, The Hindu reported.

This was decided at a meeting on November 29, after the state government recently issued strict directions to all the Block Education Officers to issue transfer certificates to children wishing to move out of private schools, if parents file an application. Many private schools had refused to issue transfer certificates as parents had not paid the school fees and they wanted the parents to clear their dues before the children were pulled out of school.

D Shashi Kumar, General Secretary of the association, said that they would file a cheating complaint against parents who were "harassing"  schools and availing all the benefits without paying the fees. “They have to pay the fees that has been announced by the High Court,” he reportedly said. The High Court had ruled that for the 2020-21 academic year, parents have to pay 85 per cent of the tuition fees of the previous academic year.

A school management member of a private school in North Bengaluru told The Hindu that they had nine students whose parents had not paid the fees for the previous academic year. “While some of these parents have shifted their children to government schools, some others have shifted them to private schools that charge the same fees as our school. This is gross injustice to managements like us,” he said.

However, Mullahalli Suri, President of the Parents’ Association, reportedly said that schools should not “stoop down” and resort to filing police complaints. “They should look at the issue on humanitarian grounds as many parents were affected financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he stated.