This is an open letter to the Education Ministry: partial refund of tuition fees is requested!

As you may know, private schools collect fees in advance, and therefore we have paid the full fee for the first term of 2009-2010 in June 2009.

I really appreciate the efforts of school administrations to make up for classes missed due to the swine flu closures.

Some schools have decided to extend the academic year to partially catch up on days lost. Some have made arrangements to compensate for the term-date delays, with some cancelling winter vacations, others teaching on Saturdays, while some are extending their daily hours.

However, these will not change the fact that we have not been able to receive in full the services we have paid for, and all such measures will not be enough to compensate for the two-thirds of the first term that has been lost.

I have heard from some friends who have attempted to claim such refunds individually that schools seem to tend either to put the blame on officials or to consider the swine flu closure as a force majeure event, or reject the claims by addressing measures they plan to take.

As you would assess, these individual attempts may naturally lead to some tensions between parents and school administrations.

Therefore, I request you to consider issuing an order to private schools to refund at least half of the tuition fees collected for the first term of this year or deduct an equivalent amount from the fees for the second term. Mr Cengiz