The FACT Employees’ Educational Service Society, which has been running the FACT Township High School at Eloor, has decided to relinquish the management role after being faced with acute financial burden.
The Society has informed parents that transfer certificates (TC) will be issued to all the 126 students. The keys of the school building have been handed over to the FACT management, which locked the gate following the deadlock.
The mounting dues in terms of licence and utility fees prompted the Society to take the decision, though it had tried its best to continue running the school. According to the Society representatives, the licence fee arrears amounted to ₹22.5 lakh, while the pending utility fee was ₹2.2 lakh.
Arrangements would be made to enrol the nine students who would be joining Class 10 in the new academic year, at Government Higher Secondary School, Muppathadam, they said. Parents, who were hopeful of an amicable solution, are worried as they have to admit their children to other schools without delay. There is no clarity yet on the fate of the 18 teachers and six non-teaching staff. “The school had a history of over six decades. We have been left in the lurch now,” said the teachers.
The Society had faced a similar situation in March 2022 after the FACT management asked it to vacate the premises for failure to remit the licence fee and security deposit since 2016. The students wrote to the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister requesting their intervention to resolve the deadlock. The company management decided to permit the Society to continue to administer the institution after it remitted ₹5 lakh as initial payment towards the clearing of arrears.
