New Delhi, Apr 25 (IANS): After the Centre urged private schools across the country not to hike the annual fee and also discontinue collecting the fee quarterly during the lockdown, many of these schools have decided not to charge three months' tuition fee at a time.

Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' said: "I have appealed to all private schools not to increase fees in view of the difficult circumstances of unprecedented health emergency."

Nishank said, "I am happy that the education departments of all the states are working diligently to protect the interests of parents and schools. The fee situation will be followed by the state government."

The Union Minister said, "Schools are mandated to pay salaries to their staff including the contractual ones. If they are short of funds, they can reach out to their parent organisation for funds."

In this phase of the lockdown, arrangements are being made to provide training to teachers besides students.

Nishank said that apart from this, C-IET and NCERT have started a month-long webinar for the development of students, teachers and researchers from April 7. The webinar will cover topics related to the creation and dissemination of e-content, usage and mobile apps.