Bengaluru, Nov 9: “Education is not a commodity but a pious service rendered to humanity," a city consumer court told a Bengaluru school, asking it to pay Rs 51,000 to a parent who had pulled his daughter out of the school's kindergarten after paying an admission fee of Rs 55,000.
It all began after Brookefield resident Thejas John Philipose decided to withdraw a kindergarten admission he had secured for his daughter at Euro School Foundation, Whitefield, by paying an admission fee of Rs 55,000 on Nov 7, 2015.
Stating that he was transferred on work to Kerala and was relocating, Philipose cancelled the admission for academic year 2016 in March itself and demanded a refund of the fee paid. The authorities, however, refused to refund the so-called `non-refundable' admission fee.
A helpless Philipose approached the Bengaluru Rural and Urban 1st Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum on April 29, 2016 with a complaint against the school authorities.
The court heard arguments from the parent and the education institution represented by its principal. While Philipose demanded a refund, alleging un fair trade practices by the school, the Euro School representative averred that Philipose had signed a declaration, stating that 'fees once paid will not be refunded' before seeking admission for his daughter and that the clause was clearly mentioned in the school admission brochure. The litigation lasted nearly 18 months, at the end of which the court came down heavily on Euro School Foundation.
It asserted that a school brochure and its conditions can't be treated as an agreement or a contract for the admission of a child. "Education is not something one should sell in the open market, whereas providing it is a pious service rendered to humanity," the court said.
It added that a child's school admission is not a business transaction and thus a signature on a declaration of `non-refundable fee' doesn't hold value, especially in a situation where a parent has sought refund well in advance before the commencement of the academic year. In Philipose's case, the refund was requested in March 2016 while KG classes were scheduled to commence only in June.
The court ordered Euro School Foundation to refund Rs 50,000 from the admission fee paid after deducting a sum of Rs 5,000 towards school administration charges. The school was further asked to pay the parent Rs 1,000 towards litigation charges.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
Comments
Medical students courses are much expensive so they have to take back from others.
True. But other students (Medical) should consider they are doing service. They are taking much more money from patients
Wise words - “Education is not a commodity but a pious service rendered to humanity,"
Many colleges in Karnataka still not refunding to students
True.We welcome this decision
Most wanted judgement
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