Private schools threaten to stop online classes if fee not paid

Bengaluru: Private schools affiliated to the State board on Tuesday threatened to stop online classes from November 30 if parents failed to pay the fees for the 2020-'21 academic year. Private schools say that most of the parents have not paid the school fees this year. They have even requested the State government to direct parents of students to pay the fee so that they can clear salary arrears of teachers and other staff for the past eight months.

Speaking to The Hans India, D Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools (AMPSS), said, "The government has decided not to reopen schools and pre-university colleges in December due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation. I guess this government is finding it difficult to make firm decision regarding reopening of schools or fee collection. Schools were shut in March, before final exams. Parents haven't paid final installments. Also for this academic year we have only 40% admissions, adding to this, there has been lukewarm response from parents to our request to pay fees. In spite of this, we still continue online classes keeping in view the future of students."

According to the reports, about 65% of parents at many private schools are yet to pay fees for this academic year. This forced some managements to pay teachers only 50% of salaries, while others have withheld payments completely. Most nursery and primary teachers have been laid off.

"It seems this government has no sympathy for teaching staff who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Teachers are working harder to take online class. We requested the government to issue an order asking parents to pay a minimum fees and the final installment of the previous academic year. But nothing has been changed and we are now forced to take this decision. It has been decided to remove those students who have not paid fees from the online class list from November 30," Shashi Kumar added.

Education experts, health departments and experts have opined that a discussion on re-opening schools and pre university colleges should be held by December end.

This is not the time as Covid cases may rise and affect the students. The report claims that about 19,000 private schools in Karnataka and abou 1.7 lakh teachers have been badly affected by the pandemic.