School admission not a business transaction: Court

BENGALURU: After repeated pleas for refund fell on deaf ears, 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 admis sion 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.
A similar case
In a similar ruling in July 2017, another consumer court here had ordered PSBB Learning Leadership Academy in Bengaluru, represented by its dean and

director Y G Parthasarathy

, to refund Rs 60,000 to a parent who had paid a fee towards nursery admission of his son. The court said there won't be much loss to the institution in the case, pointing to the fact that the boy didn't attend a single day of school.

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