consumers beware!
Schooled in fair practice
Pushpa Girimaji 

Can a school force parents to buy uniform, including shoes, from the school shop? The school that my children go to insists on it and worse, the shoes that they sell are of such poor quality that my children are finding it difficult to walk in them. When I complained, the principal said I could take my children out of the school if I did not want to buy from the school shop. What do I do?

This is a highly restrictive trade practice and violates the consumer’s right to choice. The school cannot force you to buy from the school shop. Besides, in this case, since the shoes are of poor quality and ill-fitting, they could well have an adverse effect on the children’s physical growth, health and posture. So you have to take immediate action.

One option before you is to file a case against the school before the consumer court for restrictive trade practice and ask for early hearing as this concerns the health of the children. The court can issue appropriate directions to the school in this regard. The other, quicker option is for parents to come together and protest against this practice by the school. That way, the school will be forced to listen. You can also send a complaint to the department of education on this issue.

Restrictive trade practice: It should not be mandatory for parents to buy school uniform or shoes from a specified shop

Unfortunately in India, there are no strong parents union and that is the crux of the problem. In Ireland, for example, the National Parents Council has a say on every issue concerning their children’s schooling from the quality of teaching, school inspection, mistakes in examination papers and school safety to rising costs of school books and education. And educational institutions have to listen to them. Similarly the European Parents Association, representing over 150 million parents, works to give voice to them in the development of education policies and decisions at the European level. It promotes active participation of parents in all important decision making processes.

It’s time parents in India too became a force to reckon with. That needs active involvement of parents and encouragement from the department of education at the state level.

Can one complain to the consumer court about unsafe school buses? The quality of the bus and the driver employed by the school where I have admitted my children are very poor. I constantly worry about the safety of my children.

I would suggest that you talk to other parents too and if you go in a large group and make it clear to the school that they cannot play with the lives of students., the school will be forced to listen to you. Remember, there is strength in unity and there can be no compromise on the safety of children. You must also draw the attention of the school to the mandatory Supreme Court guidelines on school bus safety and say that the school will be hauled up for contempt for failing to follow it. As per the Supreme Court guidelines, every school bus has to have a speed governor and any driver who has been challaned even once for the offence of over speeding, drunken driving or rash and negligent driving, cannot be employed for driving a school bus. So complain to the department of education and the transport department and ask them to enforce the Supreme court guidelines

I must also mention that in S.Somasundaram vs the Correspondent, Sri Chakravarthy International Matriculation Academy (FA no 518 of 1994), the Apex Consumer court said that: "A school’s responsibility does not end with providing quality education. Safety of the students is as much an integral part of the service provided by it." It also made it clear that schools will be held responsible for any negligence in this matter. Remind the school about this too.

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