With private schools instructed to not demand fees from parents amid the closure due to lockdown, the schools expect a ‘stimulus package’ from the State government.
A correspondent of a private school in Pollachi, on condition of anonymity, said that the Department of School Education has asked the private schools to submit the receipts for the salaries paid to the teachers and other staff for April. “They are telling us to pay the salaries but are not telling us to collect the fees,” she said.
In her school, half the salary amount of the teachers was paid for April and the rest will be paid in May. All the private and unaided schools in Coimbatore district are expecting a stimulus package or any other equivalent relief from the government to help them pay the salaries, the correspondent said.
Coimbatore Chief Educational Officer P. Usha said that all the 300-odd private schools in the district were sent a spreadsheet to fill the details of the number of teachers and the amount of salary paid for April. However, there are no instructions from the department on stimulus package for private schools yet, she said.