SRINAGAR:In disregard of directions by the School Education Department, private schools in Kashmir kept charging transport fees from students during the Covid-19 lockdown even though they did not operate any transport.
The department had in an order barred private schools in J&K from charging transport fees during the lockdown and had asked schools to collect only tuition fees on a monthly basis instead of quarterly basis.
The department also barred schools from hiking fees for the academic session 2020-21 and intimated them that they “shall not deny access to the online education material/ classes to the poor/ deserving students unable to pay school fees due to the prevailing situation”.
It said that a view regarding transport fee will be taken separately, which meant that the schools were not to charge the fee meanwhile. But many renowned schools demanded either the entire or part of the transport fee for the lockdown period in violation of the orders, many aggrieved parents told Kashmir Reader.
The Presentation Convent at Rajbagh in Srinagar is one such school which charged full transport fees for the lockdown period, even though the school buses did not operate as students stayed home, a parent alleged.
The school has now offered a refund after the Directorate of School Education Kashmir intervened in the matter following parents’ complaints, a parent said.
The JK Public School Humhama in uptown Srinagar and DPS Budgam have been demanding fifty percent transport fee from students, as per parents.
Some of the schools are even harassing parents for not paying the transport fee by withholding either their wards’ study material or their admit cards for the upcoming annual exams, parents alleged. “The school education department has barred them from charging the transport fee for now, so why should we pay even half the fee?” an aggrieved parent said.
The Vice President of the Parents Association of Private Administered Schools (PAPAS) also said that they had received complaints from several parents that many schools were harassing parents and their wards on one pretext or the other for not paying the transport fee.
Director School Education Kashmir, Dr Mohammad Younis Malik, acknowledged that there had been complaints against many schools for demanding transport fee in disregard of orders. He said that the directorate was taking action on a case-to-case basis.
Dr Malik further said that though the department had proposed to take a call on the transport fee separately, “that does not mean that the schools have to charge it for now”.

Irshad Khan