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29 March 2024

Sharjah school detains 15 students for unpaid fee

Published
By Staff

In a first-of-its-kind incident in the country, a private school in Sharjah allegedly detained 15 students in a classroom along with a teacher for defaulting fee payment.

According to reports in Arabic dailies, the students were deprived of tuition the whole day.

The school principal justified the act saying, “As per the law students can be temporarily suspended if parents fail to pay fee on time.”

The principal was quoted by Al Khaleej as saying that the parents of these students who bring them to school every day chose to ignore warnings by the administration.

Meanwhile, one of the parents – whose daughter studying in Grade 3 was one among the detained – said when his wife went to fetch their child on Monday she was shocked that the teacher refused to leave the girl, insisting she pay the fee first. He alleged that his wife returned home without their child, reported Al Ittihad.

He explained that he had called up the school last Saturday and informed them about his inability to pay the fee and requested time until Tuesday, which the accounts department had agreed to. Therefore, it was shocking to see his daughter detained on Monday, he added.

However, the director of the school denied such an episode.  She said the student’s mother deliberately abandoned the girl in school and threatened to lodge a complaint against the school authorities before returning home.

The director added that the school never objected to parents collecting their wards and that the institution was entitled to suspend students from attending classes if they failed to pay fees.

Hissa Al Khajah, Head, Private Education Department, Sharjah Educational Zone, said this was the first incident in the country and denounced the detention of students because parents default on fee payment.

Al Khajah said the department will take necessary action once investigations are complete.

Clause 4 of Article 52 of the Private Education’s regulation of 1999 states that a school is not permitted to dismiss students because of failure to pay fees. The school may temporarily suspend students from attending school, after issuing warnings to parents at least three times. It can also withhold students’ results or refuse to issue certificates until a settlement has been reached. A school is also not allowed to prevent the students from appearing for the examinations.
 

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