South Point school has sent a notice to parents who have outstanding fees reminding them that Calcutta High Court has allowed schools to disallow students from attending classes because of non-payment of fees.

The school has said in the notice that it hopes that it “is not constrained to take such a step due to non payment” of fees.

The notice has been sent to the parents of around 400 students of classes Nursery to XII. An official of the school said most of the parents had defaulted for more than two months, between April and September.

Some of the parents had defaulted in the last academic year, too.

The defaulters owe between Rs 5,000 and Rs 25,000 to the school.

“The Hon’ble High Court in its order has also given liberty to schools to disable classes of such students whose fee for the period up to November 2020 remains unpaid on November 30, 2020. We hope the School is not constrained to take such a step due to non-payment in respect of any child,” the notice from the principal says.

“We have to exercise utmost care and caution before discontinuing any child. We would like to give as much opportunity to parents to clear the dues in the interest of the child as possible,” said Krishna Damani, trustee of the school.

“Sending them reminders is also a part of the process and to ensure that parents have not missed out on the notice. We are a private school that depends on fees for sustenance.”

In normal circumstances, the school strikes the name of a student off the rolls if the fee remains unpaid for two or more months. But this year the school has not taken any such action “because of the pandemic”, an official said.

The notice has been sent individually to parents via the school app.

“We write to remind you that as per our records, part of the school fee in respect of your ward remains outstanding…. The Hon'ble Calcutta High Court, in its pronouncement dated October 13, 2020, had directed inter-alia that all dues are to be cleared by parents by November 30, 2020,” the notice says.

It also mentions that in compliance with the order, the school had issued a detailed circular on October 31 via the school app and the website regarding the revised fee schedule and the mode of payment.

“In the same circular, we had requested parents with outstanding dues for the period up to September 2020 to contact the school office to be advised about the amount that needs to be paid by them to the school, after providing for the waivers as directed by the Hon’ble Court,” the notice says.

In most schools, the tuition fee is spent on paying salaries to the teachers and other staff.