VIJAYAWADA: The fees in private schools and junior colleges for the current academic year are likely to be the same as the previous year. In 2020-21, managements of private unaided schools and junior colleges were asked to reduce 30 per cent of the tuition fee. In other words, they were asked to collect only 70 per cent of the tuition fee collected in the 2019-20 academic year.
The Andhra Pradesh School Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APSERMC) has submitted its report to the State government over providing fee concessions to the students during the pandemic. A final call on the fee structure will be taken by the government in a couple of days. Almost after a gap of four months, government, aided and private schools (class I to X) and Intermediate colleges opened for students on Monday (August 16) by following strict Covid protocol.
An APSERMC member, on condition of anonymity, told TNIE that the Commission has prepared the fee structure for schools and colleges after examining all the conditions faced by the parents during the pandemic. When asked about the petition filed in the High Court against the online admission for Intermediate first and second year courses, he said that previous year also a petition was filed in the High Court. However, after the High Court verdict, the junior colleges had conducted the admission through offline mode.
Andhra Pradesh Patasala Parents Association (APPA) president P Chandram said that the government should continue the fee structure for the schools and junior colleges, considering the plight of the parents during the pandemic. “With health experts predicting a likely third wave of the Covid pandemic from September, we expect that uncertainty will prevail over the conduct of physical classes for the students. In view of all the factors, the government should fix the fee structure for the convenience of the parents,” he demanded.