Non-refundable fee policy worries parents

(Representative Image)

Gurgaon: Nursery admissions for the next academic year have already begun in many private schools in the city. But the absence of a refund policy and lack of intervention from education authorities are putting parents in a tight spot.

Most private schools set the percentage of non-refundable fees between 45% and 50%. Unlike Delhi, where the share of refundable fee is decided by the education authorities, in Gurgaon, each school decides its own without much transparency. As a result, parents say they are losing money in cancellations.

In Delhi, if a child is withdrawn within one month of deposit of fees, the school can deduct admission fees/registration fees —both very low in Delhi as compared to Gurgaon — and one month's tuition fees, and it has to refund the balance amount within 15 days.

"Private schools in Gurgaon have created a monopoly charging by whatever they wish. It is very important for the government to intervene or else the parents will keep suffering the same way," said Jatin Gudwani, a parent who works with Castrol India. He suggested that the city's education department could a take a leaf out of Delhi's policy in these cases.

The state government also seems to have turned a deaf ear in the matter, which has been going on for more than five years now, said parents.

The absence of a refund policy becomes a bigger problem for parents because there is no set timeline for opening of school admissions. In Gurgaon, the admission process runs for four months, starting mid-July, and some sought-after schools either come up with results or open admissions in October. Hence, parents are in catch 22 situations as there is no uniform fee refund policy.

"My son got through in DPS Sushant Lok, and the school authorities asked us to make a payment of Rs 1 lakh. They told us they would refund only Rs 40,000 in case of cancellation. Anyway, we did not pay the money, hoping he will make it to some other school. But that hasn't happened either and now I am out of options," said Neeta Saini, a parent and a teacher working with a government school.

Sumit Vohra, founder at admissionnursery.com, says parents cannot take chance and block the seat as many good schools come up with results only after a month. "In the absence of a uniform admission calender, some parents lose huge amount if they opt for sought-after schools," he said. He added, "Gurgaon should follow uniform Delhi calendar, which will sought out these problems."

When contacted, district school department officials only said they have been receiving complaints against schools in the regard.