Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Jan 6: A Karnataka private school managements association recently called for a reduction in fees in its member schools on the account of coronavirus induced economic crisis. The Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary School (KAMS), which has close to 4,000 members, in its request urged the schools to not to pay the full year’s fees at one time. It also asked school managements to provide more time for parents to pay their children's fees based on a written declaration.

Earlier, the state primary and secondary education minister S Suresh Kumar had urged to parents and private school managements to mutually sort the issue concerning the fees and reach a middle ground. Given the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, some of the parents suffered a huge financial blow causing them to struggle to pay their child's education fees. Meanwhile, school managements maintained that without the fees they have not been able to bear the operating costs.

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In some parts of the country, schools threatened to remove students from school WhatsApp groups for those who failed to pay their tuition fees. There were instances of the schools threatening to discontinue online classes for students who failed to pay their school fees. Some parents had also resorted to protests alleging government inaction in regulating schools demanding steep fees.

The 'fee advisory' issued by KAMS suggested that schools whose fee structure is more than Rs 25,000 per annum can reduce 20% to 25% or more of their fees keeping in mind the 'best interest of students continued learning and support the parents' given the present circumstances. For schools which have fees less than Rs 25,000 but more than Rs 15,000 a year, the association suggested that special development fees be relaxed for the current school year. Further, for schools whose annual fee is less than Rs 15,000, it is recommended that they can reduce their term fee to a maximum of 10% of their whole tuition fee.

KAMS also urged schools to determine if fees of extracurricular activities like sports/ cultural activities can be waived off too. “Minimum charges for computer usage considering 30% depreciation and transportation maintenance apart from running cost can be considered yearly overall expenditure and be divided among students,” KAMS in its advisory stated.