Late payment: School, parent go to police station over fee dispute

Father claims his kids had to stand in sun all day, school says he misbehaved

ISLAMABAD: A parent has filed an application with the police accusing the Sector F-10 branch of an elite private school of harassing his children after he challenged the school’s “irrational” late fee charges.

The school has also filed a counter application saying the man misbehaved with school staff over the fee issue.

Naseem Ali Khan, who has two children enrolled in the school, filed an application with the Shalimar police saying that teachers at the school “tortured” his sons and did not provide the children with lunch on November 29 because he had challenged the Rs13,000 the school had demanded in late fee charges.

“I had to pay around Rs100,000 in advanced fees for four months by Nov 21. I missed the deadline by a few days and they demanded additional Rs13,000 as late fee charges. I argued that I was late for the month of November but not for the next three months. I was willing to pay late fee charges for one month but questioned why should I pay ‘late fee charges’ for Dec, Jan and Feb if I am paying the fee in November,” Khan told The Express Tribune.

Khan says that on November 29, his children were removed from the classroom and confined to a separate room.

The same day, the school principal handed over a notice to the children which said they would not be allowed to attend class. “On November 30, my kids went to school as usual and the school management showed their utmost cruelty and kept my kids in open air from 8:30am to 1pm,” says Khan, added that one of his children fell ill from standing out in the cold and smog.

He has requested the police and the Private Educational Institutions Regualtory Authority to take action against the principal for “harassing and torturing” his sons.

The school countered the application by filing its own application against Khan. They claim that Khan misbehaved with their staff over fee issue.

Shalimar police told The Express Tribune that they would summon both parties to hear their points of view. “It was a minor issue, which could have been resolved at the school. We will try to convince them to resolve it amicably,” a police officer said.

The school’s CEO told The Express Tribune that she “did not have time to discuss this issue”.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2016.