The Telangana education ministry on Friday served notices on 27 private schools for charging exorbitant fees from the parents.

The notices were sent to private schools for levying additional fees for holding virtual classes during the Covid-19 pandemic. This despite the Telangana government ordering private schools not to hike fees in the 2020-21 academic session.

Chief Minister K Chandarsekhar Rao, in a Cabinet meeting in April, had clearly instructed private schools not to increase fees in this academic session. The Telangana government instructed schools not to force parents to pay the annual fee in one go but collect it only on a monthly basis. There are also some reports of schools where students are being barred from attending online classes due to non- payment of fees.

Notices were issued to prominent corporate schools in Hyderabad, including Oakridge International, Glendale, Sreenidhi, Sanskruti, Silver Oaks, Vikas, Narayana School, Pullareddy Memorial, Birla Open Mind, Pranav International School among others.

Recently, the Telangana Parents Association had moved the High Court seeking a direction to regulate the school fees. The petitioner contended that the private aided and unaided schools were fleecing them with frightfully expensive fees leaving parents with a huge financial burden to bear at a time the corona imposed lockdown has impacted their incomes. The assocation had argued that they are financially incapacitated due to COVID-19 induced lockdown, yet the school managements are exerting pressure to pay up high fees even though the schools have not reopened.