Suhail Khan
SRINAGAR, May 17 : Parents in Kashmir have submitted an online petition demanding no fee to be charged for students during lockdown.
The School Education Department has asked parents to pay fee to private schools amid lockdown.
As per the order, “Only tuition fee shall be charged from the students on monthly bases instead of quarterly bases for the lockdown period and no fee hike shall be made during the academic session 2020-21.”
It further says that annual charges, if any, can be charged monthly on pro-rata basis after school reopens and a view regarding transport charges shall be taken separately.
“No school shall deny access to online education, material/ classes to poor/deserving students’ unable o pay school fee due to prevailing situation,” it reads.
However, the order has not gone well with parents opposing it. Some parents have also filed an online petition demanding there should be no fee to students during lockdown.
As per the petition, “it’s really sad to see how (Education Department) you have fallen into the hands of private schools in order to profitise them at this difficult hour which the whole world is facing”.
“Are you serious about paying of full fees during the time of complete lockdown? Our shops, factories and businesses are closed. We know how we are making our ends meet and paying salaries to our staff from our pockets. So we can bear this burden, then why can’t these schools pay to their staff during lockdown?” the petition reads.
It says that schools have been taking hefty fees from them since years. “Cannot they even pay the salaries of the staff on their own at this time when everyone’s life is compromised,” it says.
“And the gimmick of starting these online E-learning classes in order to justify charging the fees is all the more shameful. The quality of education through these classes is another low.
They have become a burden on parents as everything the parents need to teach their kids, make them understand, help them with the assignments. Teachers are not even bothering to correct the sent assignment and send it back.
How do you justify the full TUITION fees too. Neither the students nor the teachers or the system is ready and equipped with these online classes. These are a sheer waste of time and energy. As of now peace of mind is more important and we need to accept the current situation. This too shall pass and we can lighten the studies burden for this year,” the petition reads.
“And what happened to the crores of money they have in their SURPLUS FUNDS. Can’t they pay their staff with that money which is also indirectly given by parents only,” the petition reads.
While Principal Secretary School Education, Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon has said that most of the private schools are small standard and the salary of their teachers directly comes from the fee of the students.
“If they don’t charge any fee they won’t be able to pay salary of their teachers,” he has claimed.
