No waiver, parents may end up paying full fees for next month

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 29

Giving a petite relief to the parents amid worldwide crisis occurred due to Covid-19, the UT Administration is likely to extend the fee submission dates for the students studying in the local private schools.

The office of the District Education Officer (DEO), Sector 19, has already submitted a proposal to the UT Administrator and the decision is expected to come within few days. Though the officials denied offering a complete waiver, it was decided to extend the date of submission of fees till the resumption of the classes.

“A proposal has been already sent to the office of the UT Administrator and the final decision will be taken in a day or so. It has been decided that the school will not pressurize parents to submit fees at this hour and especially before any official notification,” said DEO Alka Mehta.

“There will be no fee for government and aided schools as we have clear instructions on this and if the proposal gets approved today, we will announce it soon.”

When asked about a requisite fee waiver in private schools, the official denied. “There will be no waiver. Though, the parents will not be forced to pay the fees till the time the schools reopen. It has never happened in the past,” said Alka.

“I believe like every session the schools will charge full fee for the upcoming months. It has never happened that fee is charged on the basis of number of days a school remain open. Rest, we will follow the instructions,” added Alka, on being asked if the private schools would charge full fee for the month of April.

Parents demand waiver

Meanwhile, tight-lipped parents are demanding a full waiver till the time the country is placed under lockdown. “We have been asked to submit the fee in the first or second week of the next month. Considering the ongoing situation, the administration should order waiver of school fee for atleast two months. Not all parents have their pockets full in this situation of crisis. The government should release funds for these private schools in order to accommodate their expenses instead of charging from us,” said one the parent—seeking anonymity.

As per reports the neighbouring states—Himachal, Haryana and Punjab—have already ordered private schools to reschedule the dates of fee submission. “The UT Administration should checkout the fee structure of local schools to take the final call. We are living under a serious threat. Rescheduling the submission dates will help a little, the administration should allow a complete waiver of the fees,” said another parent.

“Most middle-class families are cash-tight these days and the fee reminders are only adding to the stress. We have requested the Adviser to issue directions to all the schools to defer the payment of fees till the lockdown continues. Also, the schools should charge concessional fees during this period which is sufficient to cover the staff salaries as the schools are not incurring other expenses like consumables, electricity, fuel, etc,” stated one of a parent on a social media platform.

Credit of Mid Day meal allowance

As per MHRD instructions, the eligible students of class 1 to 8 of government schools will get their food security allowance for 10 working dates of the ongoing Month. As per the calculations, per student will get Rs47.30 (for primary) and Rs70.85 (for upper primary) for which the administration has sanctioned Rs 31.78 lakh.