Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, May 25: The department of public instruction has served show-cause notices to private schools which have been collecting fee from parents and guardians in violation of government rules during lockdown period.

The education department had told the private schools that they cannot collect additional fee in the guise of conducting online classes during the lockdown period. It also had prescribed that schools can collect fee from only those parents who come forward to remit the same voluntarily and that no pressure can be exserted on them. It also had asked schools to allow payment of fee in instalments.

But some of the school managements had violated the norms set out by the government and over 800 parents and guardians had complained to the education department about this violation.

On the basis of complaints about schools violating government instructions not to conduct admission process for the next academic year during the lockdown period and not to collect fee from the parents, the department has now served show cause notices to over 160 schools through the block education officers.

More than 710 complaints had come in from Bengaluru (south) academic district. As many as 114 schools from this district have got the notices. Over 110 complaints came from Bengaluru (north) district based on which notices have been served on 45 schools. In Bengaluru rural district, from where six complaints were received, two schools have been served with notices, a senior official in the department of education said.

The task of settling the complaints through the block education officers is under way. The complaints received to the helpline of the department of public instruction, office of the deputy director and block education officers are put together and sent to the deputy directors of the districts. The deputy directors forward them by sorting them according to jurisdictions of different block education officers. The block education officers send show cause notices and seek responses to settle the issues. If no replies are received, such schools will be handled directly by the deputy directors of public instruction.

A senior official in the department has warned that school managements which fail to follow the instructions the government might issue after considering the nature of complaints and violations by school managements will face stringent cation. Deputy director of public instruction, Bengaluru, C B Jayaranga, said that licences can be cancelled if it is confirmed that schools have violated law. However, protecting interests of the school children is also important. Therefore, attempts would be made to sort out all issues through dialogue, he stated.