Waiving of 25% monthly fees; Majority of private schools refuse to toe Dispur's line

GUWAHATI: The majority of private schools have refused to waive 25 per cent of their monthly fees citing various expenditures including the online classes.

"Even though my school is remaining closed since March due to the COVID-19-driven lockdown, we are incurring various expenditures including payment of salaries to teaching and non-teaching staffs. Conducting online classes also incurs heavy expenditures. Under such circumstances, we cannot waive the 25 per cent monthly fees as directed by the State Government," said the Principal of a leading private school in the city.

The Assam Government recently directed all the educational institutions to waive 25 per cent of their monthly school or college fees exclusively meant for the month of May 2020 till the formal and physical opening of educational institutions for imparting education to the students studying in any class from the pre-primary stage.

The educational institutions that have already collected the fees meant for the above period will have to adjust the concession in the next installment of fees, the government order stated.

Principal Secretary of the Education Department, B. Kalyan Chakravarthy requested the parents/guardian to clear dues of their wards minimum up to September 2020 at the reduced rates immediately, so that the authorities can make payment of salaries of their teaching and non-teaching staff without any problem.

"The major portion of fees collected from the students goes for payment of salaries to teachers and non-teaching staffs. The minimum salary of teachers in my school is Rs 20,000. The maximum salary for teachers in the higher classes ranges between Rs 35,000 and Rs 40,000. If I have to waive 25 per cent fees collected from students, I will have to deduct over 50 per cent salaries to teachers," said the Principal of another school. He also pointed out that his school has been conducting the online classes for the last four months by using the latest digital technologies incurring a considerable amount of money.

Parents are, however, saying that the schools authorities are making various lame excuses to charge full fees from students even when the schools are still remaining close. "Fees for extra-curricular activities including sports are also being charged. Unless the State Government is strict in enforcing its order, directives on waiving fees will remain in paper," a guardian said.

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