MADURAI: Though the recent Madras high court order has permitted schools to collect 85% of fees for this academic year, private schools say there is nothing much to cheer about as paying that much fee is not mandatory.
Managements pointed out that last year, despite holding online classes continuously, many private schools were unable to collect even 50% of the fees.
“It has not been made mandatory that 85% of the fees must be paid. In fact, concession has also been given to let parents pay 75% of the fees if they are in financial distress. But, even paying 75% fees has not been made mandatory. At the same time, schools have been prohibited from taking any action against any student if they had not paid the fees, or even try to pressurize parents to pay fees,” said M Arumugam, state president, Federation of Private School Associations (FePSA). Private schools fear that such an order would lead to further financial disarray for the schools which were already struggling to collect fees last year.
“Once again if parents are also allowed to pay in instalments, they will only look to delay paying fees as much as possible. Even some parents who are able to afford the fees did not pay last year or paid late as some others had not paid the fees. Schools are only left to struggle to pay taxes, salaries of teachers etc., on their own without collecting any fees,” said the principal of a private matriculation school in Madurai. In the last year, many private schools across the state have even been forced to shut down as well.
“Government school teachers are getting their salaries as usual. But, private school teachers like us have had our salaries cut drastically despite long working hours for online classes. Schools give the excuse of not being able to collect fees for cutting salaries. Last year, many private school teachers had to resign or were even forced to convince parents to pay the fees so that they could get salary,” said an English teacher working at a private matriculation school.
The state government had also not announced any special welfare measures or financial assistance for private schools or private school teachers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic so far. “The court order would at least give 50% benefit to the bigger matriculation and CBSE schools. It is feared that smaller primary and nursery schools may not be able to secure even 5% of the fees from parents,” said Arumugam.
