Jabalpur: scam to bring Christian schools to their knees
For almost two months a priest, a Protestant bishop, and some principals have been in prison on charges of collecting exorbitant school fees. The increase was calculated on the first COVID-19 year, when prices had been reduced by order of local authorities. “We've done nothing in mala fide,” said Bishop Arasu speaking to AsiaNews. “We're willing even to approach the Supreme Court.”
Jabalpur (AsiaNews) – The Diocese of Jabalpur has appealed to the Madhya Pradesh High Court to quash an order by the district education officer to force Catholic schools to reimburse school fees deemed exorbitant.
The story goes back to the arrest on 27 May of a local Catholic priest, Fr Abraham Thazhathedathu, and the principals of five schools run by the local Catholic Church, as well as the Protestant bishop Ajay Umesh Kumar James of the Church of North India and some other school principals.
Jabalpur district authorities have ordered ten private schools to reimburse about 650 million rupees in “exorbitant” school fees (more than US$ 7 million) unduly collected from more than 81,000 students.
The dispute is centred on a rule according to which, to increase fees by more than 10 per cent, schools must obtain a permit from the district administration or even from a local government committee, if the increase exceeds 15 per cent.
The schools in question are accused of not complying with this rule and for this reason, 14 people have been in prison for almost two months.
On 12 July, Madhya Pradesh High Court rejected the application for bail made by Fr Abraham and the others.
The Diocese of Jabalpur has strongly rejected the charges, saying that it has complied with all the regulations and that it did not charge any extra fee to students.
“We submitted all our audited accounts to the government as per requirements," said Bishop Valan Arasu of Jabalpur. Last January, he replaced Bishop Gerald Almeida, who was targeted by Madhya Pradesh authorities for other unfounded accusations against Catholic schools.
“The issue here is that during COVID-19, the High Court had ordered to collect only tuition fees, and we complied. So, if we consider the coronavirus period as the base year, where only tuition fees were taken, no other fees were collected,” the bishop said.
“If we take fees collected before COVID-19 or after COVID-19 as the base year, because the COVID-19 is a extraordinary year, then we're within the 10 per cent, but the government is not prepared to listen. They are calculating COVID-19 (year) as the base year; hence, there are variations beyond 10%,” he explained.
“I am a PhD in Economics. Normally, whenever any forecasting is done, only normal years are considered, not the years affected by calamities. In statistics, normal years are considered base years,” he added.
Instead, the authorities are using the Coronavirus year as base year.
“Government authorities have asked us to report to them every year, even though the government itself has not constituted a committee (for that purpose). So, since the state regulatory committee or fee regulatory committee hasn't been constituted, to whom are we supposed to report?” wonders the prelate.
What is more, “They're alleging that book publishers are giving a commission to schools for text books, but this is absolutely false. We have posted the list of books required on public notice boards, and parents can purchase from any book sellers.”
For the prelate, if there are abuses in the distribution of school books, the responsibility cannot be attributed to Catholic school principals. It is the failure of the government administration.
Meanwhile, while the accused remain in prison, the authorities themselves encourage families to demand the reimbursement of fees.
"This is creating serious problems for schools, despite the fact that nothing wrong has been done by us,” the bishop of Jabalpur said.
“In our 36 schools we take charge of the situation of those who cannot pay, especially in the poorest areas. But even if those who can afford it are encouraged not to do so, it is our entire education system that risks suffering the consequences. This is why we have appealed to the state government and we are willing to continue our battle even up to the Supreme Court.”
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13/04/2023 19:50
