A sentence issued by the Constitutional Court (TC) recognizes the Ministry of Education’s right to set and regulate the fees charged by private educational institutions. The Court rejected a lawsuit that asked the court to declare Article 1 of Law 86-00 unconstitutional. The court also rejected a petition of unconstitutionality presented by an educational association against Article 48 of the Minors’ Code, which prohibits schools from punishing or discriminating against students due to a lack of payment. Several schools were known to suspend students until the parents had paid school fees. The court said, according to El Nuevo Diario, that this disposition is not in violation of the Constitution as claimed by the Association of Private Educational Institutions of District 15-03 (AINEP).