Kochi: In the wake of the all-pervasive Covid lockdown and resultant flagging of economy, people from all walks of life have been hit one way or the other as the year 2020 draws to a close. Even though schools across the nation have been mostly shut, academic activity is still being carried out using internet or television broadcast. In a breather of sorts to parents of students, the Kerala High Court has now ordered that schools should levy fees only on the actual expenses incurred for this academic year.

Justice Devan Ramachandran on Wednesday considered six petitions filed by students and parents, seeking fee waiver in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

The unaided schools affiliated to the CBSE and ICSE, mentioned in the petitions, should submit exact expenditure within November 17. Based on this submission, the fee that can be levied from students will be decided.

The objective of the order is to ensure that the schools did not levy more money from the students than the actual expenses incurred, the court said.

People from all strata of society have been financial affected in the wake of lockdowns and other curbs in the wake of the pandemic. No profit should be made, directly or otherwise, by running the school, the order stated.

The court had earlier sought details of the fee structure to assess whether the fee was proportional to the facilities provided to the students. It had also asked about the money levied as tuition fee and special fee. The schools in their reply had submitted that the fee was slashed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some schools also gave details of school operations. While pointing out that it was not clear how the students benefited from this, the court directed each school to submit the exact expenditure.