Schools going digital to ensure smooth fee collection for nursery admissions

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 1

With cash-in-hand becoming an elusive concept in the present times of demonetisation, many schools in the city have also braced up for the crisis, with a majority of these going digital to avoid trouble due to limited cash flow.

Witnessing fee rush for nursery admissions, Innocent Hearts School has got swipe machines installed on its premises to deal with the paucity of new currency, while Police DAV School is accepting fee payments through cards. Sanskriti KMV School went cashless two years ago, and across other schools as well, similar plans have been in place to wade through the current crisis.

While a majority of the schools in the district have survived the present quarter – despite demonetisation – due to the acceptance of quarterly fees, with the next quarter’s fees due in December and admission process also having started or about to start in a majority of schools, they have begun alternative arrangements to ensure smooth fee payment.

Tie-ups with banks and online purses, fees being deposited straight into school bank accounts and, of course, acceptance of payments through cheques are the primary solutions schools are seeking to deal with the cash crunch which has rendered parents unable to make prompt fee payments.

Innocent Hearts School has also released a circular which reads “Due to the ongoing banking situations and the currency crunch, the parents can avail any of the following options to pay the fees: by cash (through valid currency), demand draft, credit/ debit card, NEFT/RTGS/IMPS/UPI (although this is yet to be implemented at the school), crossed cheque…”

With the government vouching for a cashless economy, the school is also thinking on similar lines, while a tie-up with mobile purse Pay TM is on plans, talks with two private banks are also on to ensure that future fee payments are rendered cashless.

A school official said, “Currently, we are accepting cash (new), bank deposits, we have installed swipe machines to directly enable payments through cards and are also planning to register the school’s account on Pay TM. All this is being done so that parents have least trouble due to the present economy and admission process is rendered smooth both for us and them. Talks are also on with two banks to ensure direct payments to banks. The fee for the admission forms was largely accepted through cash.”

The principal of Police DAV School said, “A majority of the parents are paying us through cards and that system is working perfectly for us. We haven’t encountered any difficulty in fee payments due to demonetisation so far. While the situation shall be clearer with the December fee payment starting from tomorrow onwards, but with the option of card and direct bank transfer available, we are not apprehending any major glitches in fee payments.”

Rachna Monga, principal, Sakriti KMV School, is among the lucky ones who ensured direct bank payments two years ago. For the past two years, we have been accepting payments directly in the bank for the school. So it’s been lucky for us we went cashless prior to demonetisation. Our fee collection is working very smoothly since we are already over the temporary initial glitches of adapting to the cashless system.”

Brinder Badwal, principal, MGN Public School, Adarsh Nagar, Jalandhar, said, “We haven’t started accepting payments via card so far, but all parents are depositing fee in cheques. There were just two or three parents who had some trouble. But since it’s a very small number, we are not facing any big difficulties. Overall the transformation has been smooth.”