4 schools waive fee for 4 months

Greater Noida: As many as four private schools in Greater Noida’s Rabupura and Dadri have decided to waive the tuitions fee for March to June.
These are primary schools that teach classes Nursery to Class VIII and are affiliated to state and CBSE boards.
The schools are Adarsh Bal Niketan, Maa Sarashwati Shishu Mandir, Singh Public School, Falenda village, Rabupura and LS Memorial School in Badpura, Dadri.
Around 400 students are enrolled in each of these schools that have 10-15 teachers each. The monthly fee is between Rs 300 and 1,500.
Asked what prompted the management to take the decision, Rohtash Singh, the principal of Singh Public school, said he was extremely disturbed to see that people were taking their children out of schools because they were unable to pay fee. “Of the 600 students enrolled in my school, 70%have farming background. The rest depend on some odd jobs or are daily wage earners. I saw a lot of them struggling to even survive, forget education,” he said. “This is how I think I am helping them.”
He said that they will decide on what to do after June depending on the situation.
The decision has been welcomed by parents and some even asked the managements of big private schools in Noida to take note. “If such small schools with so less to earn can do it then why can’t they?,” a Noida resident said in a tweet.
Sumit Gaur, an Uber driver whose two children study in Maa Saraswati Shishu Mandir said: “I had no idea about how I was going to pay their fees, as we are hardly able to make our ends meet. At this time, the school taking the responsibility of my kids’ education is an extraordinary thing to do. I am indebted to them.”
Rajkumar, a security guard from Falenda village who works in the factory that was shut for months and resumed work just a few back, said his salary for March has not come in yet. “I thought I will have to stop my daughters’ education. They are seventh and eighth grades at Adarsh Bal Niketan. But it turned out that school management was there to save us,” he said. Asked about virtual classes principal Dinesh Kumar Sharma said: “Students call or text me or the teachers from someone’s phone and we give them tuitions.”
One principal, however, said he got threats. “I got at least five calls from two schools in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh after I made the announcement,” said Ankit Bhati, manager, LS Memorial School. He has lodged a police complaint.