With the new academic year starting under lockdown, schools in the National Capital Region (NCR) have been taking varying positions on the collection of fees and devising ways to ensure classes are not interrupted.
Last year, most parents were bothered about the number of holidays, said Divya Vaidyanathan, a public health consultant whose two children are in the primary section of a private school in Noida. Whether it was due to smog, the Ayodhya verdict or other reasons, too many holidays meant children had to break their routine several times, she said.
This time, however, schools have started online classes and are keeping students engaged.
Meanwhile, fees have been deferred to the next quarter besides a 10% hike, she said. While fee hike happens annually, she reckoned that keeping in view the current circumstances, where every sector is being affected, it would have been prudent to not increase the fee this year.
In Noida, some schools have hiked the fees while others have issued circulars stating components like day boarding and transport fees will be waived. A circular of the Kothari International School read: “The school has decided to waive [not to charge] the day boarding and transport fees for April and May 2020. It will become effective from June 1, as school reopens.”
Books, board games
Noida resident Ananya Sengupta, mother of an 8-year-old girl, said: “There has been no reduction in fees, rather there has been an 8% hike. We are playing innumerable games with her to keep her engaged like board games and “hit-the-ball-into-the-cup” type games.”
For Mitali Basu, parent of a six-year-old girl studying in DPS R.K. Puram, keeping her child engaged in a constructive manner has been a task. “We have to constantly come up with new ideas to keep her engaged. Because she is unable to go to the park or meet friends in school she is getting impatient with each passing day. We are relying on activity books and storybooks,” said Ms. Basu.
South Delhi resident Deepika Sangwan, whose daughter has just been promoted to Class 12, said that she is hopeful of board authorities taking adequate steps to ensure that students do not face any hassle.
“Currently, we have a bigger problem to deal with, the virus. In the larger scheme of things, all the issues people are facing now are much bigger than the tension of board exams. I am sure proper steps will be taken, be it a reduction in syllabus or online classes. Though there has been no intimation from the school about reducing fees, the online classes started from Thursday,” said Ms. Sangwan, whose daughter studies in a school in Vasant Vihar.
While the Delhi government has issued orders to private schools on fees and salaries, the Haryana government too has asked schools to seek fees on monthly basis during lockdown. It also said that those parents who are unable to pay should not be forced, and that transport fee for the first quarter be waived.
Unpleasant experiences
However, in a few cases, the parents had unpleasant experiences with the school authorities, who allegedly adopted arm-twisting tactics to force parents to deposit the fee.
In response to a post on “Gurgaon Parents for Better Education”, a Facebook forum for parents, students and educational institutions, by The Hindu , Namita Chaudhary Kanth, a parent, shared that she had to pay the fees after the school stopped teaching her child.
Most of the parents objected to schools charging transport and meal charges for the lockdown period.
“The school has asked for three months’ transport fee along with annual charges. April is gone, May will be a half month and June is summer vacation. Why demand transport charges then? It is unjustified,” said Jagat Pal Singh.
But some had pleasant experiences too. “My child’s school has sent a request to pay voluntarily and there is no ‘demand’ for the fee to be paid immediately,” said Mahima Suri, a parent.
Many parents also objected to schools demanding annual and infrastructure charges. Some felt that online classes, especially for the junior section, were a mere “ploy” to charge fees. Others opined that schools were only allowing delayed payment and there was no waiver or reduction. A few advocated the need to pay the fee saying it was a “chain”. “I pay the school, which pays the teachers... they in turn pay house helps and so on,” said Chumki Sen, a former journalist, supporting the need to pay the fees.
The forum’s administrator Tripti Singh said: “None of us are promoting the idea of not paying the fees. Of course, we want to pay. But all we are asking is not to charge any unreasonable money such as transportation fee, annual charges, meal charges.” She demanded that there should be no fee hike for the current session.
