BENGALURU: Private schools in the state, especially those that do not charge exorbitant amounts as tuition fee, might be staring at a shutdown according to associations who are alleging harassment from the government.
These schools, affiliated to the state board, have threatened to stop classes as a mark of protest if the government does not provide a solution to their problems. The schools are raising an objection over recent decisions taken, in which they have been asked to fix a minimum wage for employees, as well as delays in reimbursement of expenses borne in admitting children under the Right to Education act (RTE). “We are being harassed and the government is trying to regulate us unnecessarily. If this continues, we have no other option but to close these schools,” said
D Shashi Kumar, General Secretary of the Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka. According to the association, of the 18,000 private schools affiliated to state board, 92% are budget schools. This means the tuition fee is less, sometimes as much as Rs 20,000 per year. “A school fixing a minimum wage for staff means an increase of 200 to 300% in tuition fee. Parents will have to shell out this,” he said. Savita Kumari, a management representative of a city school affiliated to the state board, said, “Repeated appeals to officials have failed.”
According to the association, the government must instead insist on this rule for schools which charge exorbitant fees. “Let the government and activists target these schools. Budget schools have no role to play in that,” added an association member. “If this continues, the government can run the show and we will shut down. Not everyone is here to make money. Some of us provide education making losses,” another member said.