Parents protest against Pvt schools, DSEJ seeks action, schools asso hail

| Jammu |

The Directorate of School Education, Jammu (DSEJ) has appealed to the parents of students of private schools not to get mislead by the self styled leaders of an unregistered organization called Parents Association.
�This Association has not been constituted under the relevant provisions of the J&K School Education Act and/or the Right to Education Act. There are FIRs against the so called chairman of the association for blackmailing. Reports have also been received that he is extorting money from gullible parents on the promises of waiver of school fee. He is giving false statements about full waiver of fee in other States and many other factually incorrect statements,� a DSEJ communiqu� stated.
For the information of all parents, it is again clarified that the government has already given a major relief by providing for monthly tuition fee only. No other fee is to be charged by any private school during the closure of schools. However, if any parent is unable to pay even monthly tuition fee due to stoppage of salary or income, the concerned school or the directorate can be approached so that his/her case is considered sympathetically on merit, it added.
The DSEJ communiqu� further advised the parents to go through the advisory dated 19.05.2020 issued by this Directorate which clarifies all issues related to school fee, books, online education etc. Parents are requested to organise themselves in school specific Associations as explained in the advisory so that the genuine issues of each parent can be addressed properly in a democratic manner. The directorate shall also organise webinars for having direct interaction with parents. Therefore, they are requested to avoid getting mislead by mischievous elements,
Any parent having any complaint can call on the helpline number 6006800068 or can register a formal complaint on schedujammu.nic.in/samadhan.
Private Schools� Association of Jammu (PSAJ) today lauded Directorate of School Education Jammu for recommending strict action against a history sheeter Amit Kapoor who was resorting to hooliganism and misleading people with regards to fee collection by the private unaided educational institutes.
According to a press statement, the Association said that the action taken against Amit Kapoor has been a long pending demand of schools, educationists and respected members of the society. �The history sheeter Amit Kapoor has been organising protests in front of schools and issuing self styled statements which created huge confusion among public. Despite the directions passed by High court and the Department of Education, this person and certain other third party actors tried to mislead people by asking them to refrain from paying any kind of fee thus jeopardising entire education sector,� said the spokesperson of PSAJ.
The Association said that with regards to fee collections all schools are committed to abide by the directions of high court and every step is being taken to tackle the whole situation in a humane manner. �There is a clear direction from High Court and the education department with regard to fee collections and both schools and parents are abiding by the rules. But unfortunately some third party actors like Amit Kapoor started playing politics on the issue and created discord among public. With their actions, these third party actors threatened the foundations of the entire education sector,� said the spokesperson. �He even defamed higher officials of education department on social media. Displaying the phone number of officials he would ask people to harass them day in and day out.�
While schools have heaved a sigh of relief on the action taken by Director of School Education Jammu against Amit Kapoor, the Association further demanded that such strict action be taken against other third party actors too who defame schools, officials and teachers for their ulterior motives. �The irony is that Amit Kapoor�s children study at central government school and yet he would protest against private schools. He would even blackmail them,� said the spokesperson. �There are many other such persons who needed to be dealt according to law