BENGALURU: The Registered Unaided Private Schools Management Association (RUPSA Karnataka) has threatened to close all schools if the government fails to respond to their plea, as "unscientific circulars will force more than 10,000 schools to shut down".
RUPSA Karnataka president Lokesh Talikatte said that while on one hand, unaided schools were hit financially by the pandemic, on the other, the government officials, in connivance with greedy people, was allegedly creating a situation to ensure that budget schools -- catering to downtrodden children -- were closed in rural and urban areas. "Immediate adherence to the rules has been demanded in the circulars, which is problematic," he said.
Talikatte said that for accreditation renewal, 61 documents had been sought and a six-day deadline given, which had paved the way for bribing officials. The government had not granted aid to Kannada medium private schools established after 1995, while the COVID package for school workers had not been implemented fully, he added.
Sports fee will be levied this year too
The Department of Public Instruction has decided to levy sports fund fee this year too. Accordingly, all government, aided and unaided primary and high school students from Classes 6-10 will be asked to pay it.
Students from Classes 6 and 7 will have to pay Rs 5 per head, while those of Classes 8-10 will have to pay Rs 15 per head. An official said the fee which was used for taluk-, district- and state-level sports events was not collected last year, owing to COVID-19. Meanwhile, private schools have objected to the fee.