Parents of three students of Janasakthi Public School, Velanchira, Kayamkulam have lodged a complaint with General Education Minister V. Sivankutty and Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights alleging that the school management prevented their children from studying in the school as a retaliation for moving the Kerala High Court seeking to slash fees in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parents of Jewel Prathappan and Devika Dileep, both Std IX students and Devan, a Std VIII student, said their wards were not allowed to attend online classes ever since the school reopened.
Prathappan Rajappan, father of Jewel said he had received a missive from the school Principal stating that the school management had taken a decision not to allow his child to study in the school.
In 2020, Mr. Prathapan along with Dileep Kumar and Vinod Kumar, father of Devika and Devan had approached the court demanding a reduction in fees.
After considering their petition along with the petition of other parents from different parts of the State, the court directed school managements to slash fees for the academic year.
“Before moving the court, a memorandum signed by 180 parents was submitted to the school management. But they did not heed to our calls to reduce fees. Later, three of us impleaded as party in a case filed in the court for reducing fees. When the 2021-22 academic year began, school authorities did not contact us or include our children in the online classes. Our children want to continue their studies at Janasakthi Public School,” Mr. Prathapan said.
Disrepute
School manager Vijayan Chempaka said the parents of the three students had brought disrepute to the school.
“They have created a parallel organisation and discouraged other parents from paying fees. A teacher also filed a police complaint against one among them for making vulgar remarks,” Mr. Chempaka said, adding that the children have not been dismissed from the school.
