Unaided schools demand fees for academic year

Prajodh (name changed), who runs a fancy store here, has been struggling to make ends meet owing to the lockdown.
For representational purposes. (File Photo)
For representational purposes. (File Photo)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Prajodh (name changed), who runs a fancy store here, has been struggling to make ends meet owing to the lockdown. In what came as a bolt from the blue, he received an SMS on Monday morning from the unaided CBSE-affiliated school where his children study. The message directed him to pay the first instalment fee of his two children for the upcoming academic year. Prajodh is at his wit’s end on how to suddenly cough up the amount, which comes to around `30,000, and pay it online as directed by the school.

Prajodh’s  is not an isolated case. Several hundred parents have been receiving messages from schools directing them to pay the fees. This, despite the government directing all schools to postpone fee collection till the Covid-19 crisis abates. However, in the absence of any formal order from the government, unaided schools have resumed fee collection.For unaided schools, fee and donation from students is what keeps them going as they do not receive any financial support from the government. 

Many unaided schools, including a large number of institutions affiliated to national boards like the CBSE, have been struggling to pay the salary of teachers and other staff.Recently, the CBSE had issued a circular stating that fee shall be charged under the heads prescribed by the department of education of the state or the Union Territories concerned. The circular had directed that admission fee and fee charged under any other head should be only as per regulations of the appropriate government.

Govt to intervene
With parents drawing the authorities’ attention to the issue, the government has decided to intervene. General Education Minister C Raveendranath told TNIE that a top-level meeting will be convened on Tuesday to discuss the matter.“At present, only a directive has been issued to the unaided schools not to collect fees. The meeting will decide on options to ensure that the directive is strictly implemented,” the Raveendranath said. 

‘Schools to decide’
Council of CBSE Schools, Kerala, an association of the managers of around 750 of the 1,300 CBSE-affiliated schools, held a meeting on Sunday via videoconferencing to discuss the issue. The council decided that a decision on fee collection will be taken by the respective schools, based on their financial position. “CBSE-affiliated schools are finding it tough to pay salary of close to one lakh teachers and other staff as there is no revenue owing to the lockdown. However, schools should adhere to rules while taking a decision on fee collection,” said Indira Rajan, chief patron of the council. The managements have already moved the High Court.

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