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Students held ‘hostage’

AL AIN — A private school in Al Ain has allegedly taken an extreme step to extract fees from 15 students who defaulted on payments.

It "kept the students as hostage" in the school untill their parents came running and sorted out the matter.

Parents complain that these students of the Zhrat Al Madaein were forced to stay inside the school after the day's classes were over. Anxious parents who rushed to the school in search of their children were told that the school administration wanted the parents to come personally and pay the fees without further delay.

The school administration justified its action saying they had no other way of ensuring the fees were paid.

These students, it is learnt, could notpay the fees because of the poor financial condition their parents were in.

Official sources said the parents lodged a complaint with the Al Ain Educational Zone, which, in turn, forwarded the matter to the Ministry of Education.

Moza Al Ghafly, head of the Al Ain Educational Zone (AAEZ) private school department, declined to comment on the case at this stage. She said the case was now being investigated by the Ministry of Education and, therefore, she had no authority to offer a comment.