Pvt school kids who lost father to virus seek fee waiver in SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Centre and the Delhi government in a plea filed on behalf of two children, who lost their bread-earning father to Covid-19 and are currently running the risk of having to drop out of school. .

The children, studying at a private school in Delhi, are being taken care of by their mother, who said she is finding it difficult to bear the expenses of the school fees.

The petitioners sought directions to the Central and Delhi governments, so that the school fees can be waived or re-imbursed and their education can be continued in the same school.

Significantly, the Delhi government already has a directive that such children must be allowed to continue in the same school — but that is for schools run by the DoE.

Nevertheless, while issuing notice in the plea, the bench of Justices LN Rao and Hemant Gupta said that they will issue notice but do not think it will help the children as more and more people will start approaching the bench for similar directions.

The plea was an intervention in the matter with regards to the care of children in light of the pandemic. The court also commented that the family of the children does not seem to be belonging to the "lower strata" and that the point of general directions was to specifically ensure "children in need of care" are protected on priority.

However, the petitioners insisted that the mother should know whether she is going to get any support from the government or not. Following this, the notice was issued.