Caught in this quagmire of a situation are teachers at private schools. Hundreds of them have been fighting to survive the Covid-induced pay cuts and job losses. A large number of them have even taken up alternative jobs to keep themselves afloat.
One of them is K Mala, who lost her job as a primary-school teacher at Velachery during the second wave of the Covid outbreak. “Our lives were upended by the pandemic. During the first wave, we received half our salaries, but later were forced to work without pay; I recently left that job; we are neck-deep in debt now,” she said. Mala is the breadwinner of her family of four.
R Sasikala, who works as a science teacher at a private school in Coimbatore, said: “After the school was shut as part of the lockdown, the management halved our salaries. Now, I am drawing only `6,300 a month. This is not enough to run a family. We have to pay the rent and buy groceries, the prices of which are skyrocketing.” The schools collect full fees from students, but deny full salaries to teachers. This is the scenario in all private schools, she alleged.
Another teacher from the school said: “Despite our requests, the State government did not address the issues of private school teachers. The government should form a welfare board for private school teachers and fix the minimum salary at Rs 25,000 a month.”
R Siva, a teacher at a private school in Salem, had his own tale to tell. “During most of the past year (from May 2020 to June 2021), we received only 50 per cent of our salaries. Only for the two months of normal Classes held for Classes 9-12 earlier this year did we receive our full salaries. The school management asked us to convince parents to pay at least 75 per cent of the fees in three or four installments. But most parents do not pay the fees and do not respond properly when we call. They, however, complain that their wards are not studying well because of the online classes,” he said.
“We are also not in a position to ask the school administration for our full salaries, let alone a hike, as we know the school’s financial situation. But our school administration has not sacked any teacher. It has also promised us full salaries once the school opens,” the teacher added.
According to PK Ilamaran, State president, Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Association, schools cannot be facing losses because they have been charging way more than the prescribed fee structure. Last year, when, classes were held online, most schools charged uniform and transportation charges.
“This is the reason lots of children are being transferred to government schools. Most of them have been struggling to get TCs. We got a complaint where a parent (who is a construction worker) was told to get a TC if he could not pay full fees. They forced him to pay Rs 8,000. It is disheartening to see the way schools have been functioning.”
One of the parents who has decided to transfer his children to government schools is K Murugavel from Mettupalayam in Coimbatore. An employee at a private company, Murugavel decided to admit his son in a government school as the private school had removed his son from online classes recently.
He said: “My son was promoted from Class 4 to 5 now. Last academic year, we paid Rs 11,200 to the school, but we could not pay the pending Rs 3,400. This year, the school demanded Rs 8,400 as the first-term fee for the current academic year and last year’s pending fee of Rs 4,000. This apart, it demanded Rs 4,000 for uniform, shoes, etc. After we could not pay the fee, the class teacher removed my son from the WhatsApp group, leaving him unable to continue his studies. I will admit him to a government school in Class 5,” he stated.
He alleged that private schools collected the full fee from parents last academic year, a claim seconded by many parents in Coimbatore. Students’ Welfare Association of Parents secretary S Syed Jalal demanded that the State government form a committee to prevent private schools from charging the full fee.
Private schools hiking fees without intimating parents?
While fee collection has started heating up in the State, it seems some private schools are giving proper fee-hike intimation a miss. One parent in Madurai said she discovered the fee hike after she paid the amount to the school. Speaking to Express, Gowri said that her children are students of an ICSE school in the district.
Recently, it asked her to pay Rs 42,600 as first term fees for Class IX. Since she didn’t know how much the fees for the second term was, she spoke to a few students who passed Class IX in the same school last year. During the conversation, she came to know that they paid only around Rs 40,000 for their first term. “The school management increased the fees by Rs 2,000, fully aware that these are trying times for people,” she said.
Gowri added that many parents like her do not have a clear idea about their children’s school fees, and that only a few schools in the district (Madurai) reveal their entire fees amount. “If I call the school office for an explanation of the fee break-up, none will be available to give it. Even during the pandemic, private schools are collecting amenities and lab fees from students. I wonder what kind of amenities does the school provide,” Gowri added.
Inputs from KV Navya (Chennai), N Dhamotharan (Coimbatore), Subashini V (Erode), M Sabari (Salem), MP Saravanan (Tiruppur), Jevin Selwyn Henry (Dharmapuri), Jeyalakshmi Ramanujam (Madurai), M Sreemathi (Tirunelveli) & S Aadhithya (Tiruchy)