Pay extra fees for Learning Disability exam, school tells SSC student

Mother files complaint with state board over last-minute exam charges for student with Learning Disability

Even AS the Senior Secondary Certificate (SSC) examinations are just a day away, Jayesh Singh, a Std X student with Learning Disability, is still unsure of whether he will be able to appear for the examination as his school has now asked for Rs 3,700 from Jayesh's parents to make arrangements for his special LD exams.

Jayesh had filled his exam form through Lord's Child High School in Virar, as a private student. Following the school's last-minute demand for money, his mother, Sunita Singh, has now approached the Maharashtra State Board's Mumbai Division with a complaint against the school.

"I have already paid Rs 7,300 for the private enrolment and practical examination. As an LD candidate, he has now been exempted from appearing for certain subjects like mathematics and science and will instead appear for subjects like book-binding etc. The school will thus need to make special arrangements and is hence asking us to pay for it," said the aggrieved mother.

Board office secretary Sharad Khandagale said that a certain fee is charged based on examination requirements but "it is paid in full at the time of enrolment." Now that this student already has his hall-ticket, "there should not be anymore fee charged now," he said. "I will look into the complaint."

The school claimed that it wasn't informed of Jayesh's LD status in time. "This information reached us only in December after the candidate's enrolment. We now have to send our staff all the way to the board office in Vashi for approvals and make trips to pick and drop the special material. We are trying to help the child as much as we can. We are even giving them a receipt for all the charges and have accepted the child's LD certificate at the last moment," said Lata Chendwankar, managing director of the school.

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