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| Gujarat Govt’s fees waiver rejuvenates Jammu parents to raise similar demand | | School charges during COVID-19 lockdown | | KUNAL SHRIVATSA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, July 24: With Coronavirus pandemic taking the entire world into its grip, virtually every sphere of day to day life got affected with the outbreak of the disease and subsequent lockdowns imposed to contain the spread of deadly virus.
The economy of India has also received a severe blow with the lockdowns and uncharacteristic lull in the markets even after the announcement of unlock.
Amid this chaos, the issue of payment of tuition fees by the parents of the private schools going children crops up every now and then in almost every state or Union Territory of the country. The issue also continues to hog limelight here in Jammu and other parts of the Union Territory of J&K.
A large number of parents whose children are studying in different private schools of Jammu city and its peripheral areas are seeking a fee waiver at least for the period of lockdown or till the time schools are closed as per the government directions.
Now, when the Gujarat government recently issued a direction to the unaided private schools in the state not to collect tuition fees or any other charges from students as long as the institutions remain shut due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the parents from Jammu are also raising the demand to waive off the tuition fee on the same pattern.
Several parents with whom Early Times spoke said that they fail to understand that when several governments have passed instructions to private schools in their respective states not to charge tuition fee during the shut-down period then why the J&K administration is showing reluctance in announcing relaxation for the same.
“J&K government should be considerate enough over the issue of waiving off tuition fee. It would somewhat compensate parents as most of them are facing tough times due to the onslaught of pandemic,” said a parent, Rajeev Sharma.
“Our government should follow the suit as several state governments have offered relaxations for school fees during the coronavirus lockdown period in the country. J&K UT administration should also announce a similar order on lines of the Gujarat state government order which has also asked schools not to hike fees for the academic year 2020-21,” he added.
Meanwhile, sources told Early Times that though schools are regularly demanding fee from the parents on the pretext of disbursing salaries to the teachers and other staff besides for meeting other expenses many schools have either not paid any salary or paid only 40-50 per cent of it to their teaching and non-teaching staff during the period of lockdown.
“The private schools are playing truant not only to the parents but also to their staff. They are charging fees without even operating at full scale while not paying 100 percent salaries to their staff members,” said sources. |
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