Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, parents have not been given any relief in fees this time but the Fee Regulatory Committee is not approving the demanded fees by schools this year. The FRC has sanctioned only a 60 per cent fee demanded and charged to the students at Divine Gurukulam School in the Winzol area of the city.
The school had demanded fees ranging from Rs 72,000 to Rs 85,000 differing for classes 1 to 11. According to the FRC-approved fees, the school will have to repay more than Rs 34 lakh if the students have collected more than Rs 68 lakh for one year and Rs 6 lakh for six months.
The school in its proposal to the FRC demanded that the fees be levied at the same rate as it is levied, which was also clarified by the FRC.
However, now that the committee has reduced the fee by 40 per cent, the extra money that the school has collected in the fee so far has to be refunded to the parents. The school has collected an average fee of Rs. 69,750 from KG to class 1 while, FRC only approved fees up to Rs 42,500. That is, an average deduction of Rs 27,250 has been levied against school fees. There are around 250 students, so the school has to return around Rs 34 lakh in six months. It may be noted here that the FRC had made the provisional order on October 4 and has now made the final order.
