Court Notice To School Over 'Fee waiver' Plea Of Covid Victim's Children

The school authorities have allegedly refused to disclose the results of the tests the two students wrote till they pay up.

The Supreme Court today issued notices to a Delhi private school over a plea by two students allegedly on the verge of being terminated for their inability to pay fees following the death of their father earlier this year due to Covid. The court has also notified both the Central and state governments on the matter.   The plea states that the siblings -- a 15-year-old girl and her nine-year-old brother -- may have to drop out of school owing to their financial condition. Their father, a professor with a private college, died in May this year while their mother, a homemaker, has no source of income. They have not paid their fees since April this year. The two sought directions to the Centre and the Delhi government to waive off their school fees and ensure the continuation of their education in the same school. While issuing the notices, a two-judge bench of Justices LN Rao and Hemant Gupta, however, observed that the applicants do not belong to the "lower strata" of the society and that its earlier orders were meant to protect children in need of care and protection.