West Bengal School Reopening: Calcutta HC allows schools to collect normal fees as offline classes begin – Times Now

West Bengal School Reopening has started from February 16, 2022 for junior classes. With this, schools have resumed offline classes in entirety and Calcutta HC has issued an order with regards to fees.  

In a recent move, Calcutta HC has permitted schools to resume the practice of collecting normal fees. A report in PTI mentions that the HC orders have permitted schools and other educational institutions to charge fees as per their policy as COVID-19 situation has improved and normal life is slowly restoring.  

West Bengal School reopening decision has been welcomed by various stakeholders. Before Calcutta HC’s order, schools were asked to have a 20% deduction in school fees. With this, schools were also only allowed to charge for essential services that were rendered online.  

As per PTI, these new orders have been given by a Division Bench of Justices I P Mukerji and Moushumi Bhattacharya. Initially, the deduction in fees was ordered when several groups of parents had submitted requests and representations, demanding for this.  

West Bengal Schools have joined the list of states that have allowed the resumption of offline classes. Earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the offline lectures for junior classes will be allowed only after assessing the COVID-19 situation.

Related | Bengal School Reopening: Primary, Upper Primary classes to reopen from February 16 

Over the last few days, the state has reported a considerable fall in COVID-19 cases and improvement in vaccination numbers. West Bengal even complied with Centre’s initiative of starting the vaccination of children in 15-18 years old age group. All these steps have led to the proper reopening of schools for offline classes.