Citizens oppose strike by private schools

By Anuksha Dey

The parents have slammed private schools in Bengaluru for going on a strike yesterday (Feb 23) to protest against a 30% fee cut ordered by the state government. The schools claim that only 70% of the current school fees is not enough for payment of staff and maintenance of the school property. The HSR Layout residents who opposed the move reason that parents are under pressure due to the prevailing fee structure.

Private schools unwilling to cut down their fees

In April, the government issued circulars stating only those parents who can afford to pay only the tuition fee as per the fee structure of 2019-20 should pay, and no 15% notified increase of fee would be allowed. Private schools are under financial pressure as a majority of the parents have not paid fees for the 2020-2021 financial year. D Shashi Kumar, the convener of the committee, told the media that many teachers and non-teaching staff faced salary cuts and even unemployment due to the lack of funds. Therefore, these schools are coercing the parents to pay the full fee even though many of them have come under financial strain as well due to the pandemic.

The Citizen Task Force (CTF) of HSR Layout residents has petitioned the block education officer of the north and south zone of bengaluru to highlight the problem. “We are governed by the mandate in the circulars dated 24/4/2020 and 28/04/2020 to pay voluntarily if we can afford, at best for one term, which we have complied with,” states the letter. “We request you to kindly take necessary action against schools for violating our child’s constitutional fundamental right of education and request you to kindly order to restore the same forthwith and not to force, coerce & compel parents for any more fee payment until further orders.”

Ancillary charges

A student at a public school has to pay over Rs 1.62 lakh every year. “In October, the schools informed the parents that there would not be any fee hike this year, but now they have changed their decision and announced a 13% fee increase within four months,” says Manoj K, a member of CTF. 

According to the previous mandate, all activity costs are supposed to be carried forward to the next year. However, private schools continued to charge for use of campus facilities throughout the pandemic. Education costs have also increased drastically due to online classes. “We are not getting the proper incentives from our company,” says Venkatesh H. “In spite of that, we have to buy our children mobiles and arrange for good broadband connections for online classes.” 

Psychological pressure and humiliation

Schools continue to pressure parents to pay the pending school fees through various approaches even during the pandemic. The issue is sensitive as the parents believe their inability to pay the fees might affect how their children are treated at school. This creates immense psychological pressure on both the parents and the children who might be treated differently due to their financial conditions. 

On February 10, a 10th standard student from a private school in HSR Layout attempted suicide after he was allegedly humiliated in front of his classmates by the principal, and punished for not paying his school fees. Venkatesh, himself a parent, says, “They have been calling us up unofficially from different phone numbers each time to hound us to pay the fees after the government ordered schools to stop forcing students to pay till the crisis is over.” 

Even the state government has recognised the problem. Education minister S Suresh Kumar has admitted to the media that the schools failed to reach an understanding with the parents on the fee structure despite repeated appeals by the government.  

Action taken by the task force

The task force has already contacted the Block Education Minister and reached out to parents in HSR Layout. They aim to raise awareness about the issue and the government orders published so far. “We are ready to talk to the private management of every school,” says a spokesperson of CTF. “We just want a proper negotiation process and arrive at a solution that is favourable for all parties.”

Editorspeak

Agreed that the schools are under tremendous financial stress, particularly those private schools whose fees were reasonable to begin with. However, the private school managements who extorted huge fees under various categories for all these years, can definitely bear the additional costs they incurred during the pandemic. A blanket order by the government may not be the right solution for every educational entity. It is up to the school managements and the parents to arrive at an amicable solution. However, if some school managements fail to broker a deal with parents, the education department should take punitive measures against the management to set an example for the other institutions.