BENGALURU: Holding placards and banners, around 30,000 teachers, staff and administrative officials of private schools took to the streets in Bengaluru on Tuesday, protesting against government’s decisions which have affected their financial situation. They demanded that their issues be resolved in a week.Members of 12 organisations protested under the banner of Karnataka Private School Managements Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff Coordination Committee. One of their major demands was the withdrawal of the order mandating a 30 per cent cut in tuition fee. They submitted a memorandum to MLCs and Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar.
Leaders of the protesting organisations told the minister that he should take a salary cut to experience what teachers and support staff had to go through for months without pay.“The 12 of us did not receive our pay through the lockdown.
After schools reopened in January, we received 70% of our pay,” said Suresh, a driver working at a school in Kolar. A teacher and a support staffer at an K R Nagar school, said their institution had cut salaries by half. “We are on a 50% cut and there are no other jobs open to us,” they said.
Teachers from a state board school in Bangarpete said their school had given them only half pay for the past six months, and provided food kits for two months. “Students continue to attend both online and offline classes, but parents are not willing to pay for it. We are surviving on credit,” said Shashi, a teacher.The order on school fee has impacted school revenue, they said, and urged the minister not to pay heed to wrong information given by officials on private schools.
Addressing parents who complained about having to buy gadgets for online classes, Gayatri Devi, a CBSE school administrator, said, “Parents should remember that education is an investment, not just expenditure.”On implementation of safety norms in existing private schools, D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said 90% of schools would have to close down.
Show audited accounts, parents tell pvt schools
Bengaluru : Members of Voice of Parents have demanded that private schools make their audited accounts public so that parents can verify whether their demand for the rollback of the fee cut is warranted. Parents said that closing of online classes on Tuesday will disorient and inconvenience children and them. Also, students will have to attend classes on Saturday. They appealed to managements to understand the practical difficulties in running a family with a pay cut, providing the children with necessary devices, internet, printouts, etc, besides overpriced books, uniforms and shoes. They criticised schools for demanding the full fee despite terminating the services of staff by an average of 25% , and effecting salary cuts.