School ‘detains’ students for not paying fees

Sharjah : Parents of students at a private school in Sharjah have complained that the school management detained their children for non-payment of school fees. 

The school, however, denied the allegation, saying they only kept the students in their classrooms until the parents arrived to pick them up; the latter were then asked to go to the accounting department to pay the overdue fees. 

The school management said the balance of unpaid school fees by parents has reached Dh1 million. 

One parent of three students in Grades 8, 10, and 11 said when her husband went to the school to pick up the children, they were being detained in class by three teachers who asked him to meet the management before he could take the kids. Their school fees balance to be paid is only Dh8,000, she said. “My children have spent years in this school, and we never delayed their fees, but this treatment is inhuman and humiliating,” the mother said. 

Another parent said the school is violating the law by detaining students for non-payment of fees. “My daughter, in Grade 11, came home crying, and decided not to sit for her exam on Sunday,” they said. 

The school’s headmistress stated that the school required the fees to cover its expenses. “We have the right to demand the fees from parents, but without hurting the students’ feelings,” she said. 

A top official at Sharjah Education Zone said local school managements were warned to deal with students directly, on the issue of fee arrears. Following many such cases, the department sent circulars to all schools banning them from detaining students for non-payment of fees. 

Article 52 states that schools can’t detain students for any reason. The law allows schools only to temporarily stop students from attending classes, but not from sitting for examinations. Parents are to be warned three times, and the school then has the right to terminate the student temporarily, until the fees are paid.