Prateek Tanmay
3 min readMumbaiJun 4, 2026 01:11 AM IST
Parents of students enrolled at Orchids International School in Mumbai’s Chunabhatti were in for a shock when, instead of receiving information about the school reopening after summer break in the first week of June, they were asked to choose one of the institution’s three other branches for their children’s relocation. The reason — the school located in Chunabhatti is declared unauthorised for not having required permission from the government.
Claiming that the school has misguided them, parents complained that the school charged them full fees for the new academic year, stating that there is no reason to worry. “But now when we were expecting school to resume, they are asking us to select other branches. My child spends more than an hour in the school bus to travel to this school in Chunabhatti. Going to their other branches located far away is absolutely not an option,” said an aggrieved parent, adding that a meeting with the school authorities on Wednesday did not yield any solution.
The school was declared unauthorised in March 2026, which was informed to the management via a letter dated March 18. The letter signed by education officer of Mumbai North region, Mushtaq Shaikh states that as per the rules under the Right To Education (RTE) Act, any institution receiving Letter of Intent (LOI) to start a school is expected to obtain final approval from the government within 18 months from then, after completing the required infrastructure. But as the school was running without the final approval, it was declared unauthorised and ordered to shut operations.
Stating that it is a crime to run an unauthorised school, the letter levied a fine of Rs 1,00,000 on the management and warned of an additional penalty of Rs 10,000 per day if the school continues to function despite the order to shut down. “This was informed to the school in March and subsequently we also put up a notice at the school gate in April, announcing that the school is declared unauthorised. A complaint was filed with the Chunabhatti police station against the school,” said Shaikh, emphasising that parents should have taken note of all this.
However, parents complain that the school kept assuring them that the problem would be resolved before classes the new academic year began. “But instead of starting the new academic year for our children, they are asking us to go to other branches. I live in Sion, how can I confirm admission to any of the other three branches, which are in Kurla, Mulund and Masjid Bandar,” said a parent, adding that the school should have given this option before taking fees for the next academic year, with assurances.
Rahul, operations manager at the school said that the management has issued a new circular to parents with updated information. “We have informed parents that the final approval is expected soon and we would be able to start operations at the same location by July,” he said.
