Pvt schools demand package from govt to pay teachers’ salary

Hubballi: With the the state government restricting schools from pestering parents for fees and banning online classes till Class 5, private school managements are demanding a financial package from the government to pay salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff.
The managements claim they have been paying salaries from April but cannot afford to pay from June since parents are not coming forward to pay fees after the government offered them moratorium.
Jayaprakash Tenginakai, president, Dharwad District Unaided School Managements’ Association, told TOI: “The education minister has said not to collect fees forcibly from parents. The government should understand that private unaided schools in tier-2 cities are being run by institutional managements and not by company set-ups. We have always strived to provide quality education and infrastructure to students and better salaries to our staff. I condemn the move by the government which has been taken without consulting the stakeholders. If some schools are violating any norm set by the government or functioning just for profit, let the government initiate action against such schools,” he said.
Association’s vice-president Lingaraj Patil alleged that the government has allowed private unaided schools in Bengaluru to collect 50% of fees but the same is not allowed in other cities. “The government should understand that annual fees charged by unaided schools in rest of Karnataka is hardly Rs 20,000 whereas it is in lakhs in Bengaluru. During Covid-19 pandemic, the government has not consulted us while taking any decision. Irked by this attitude, we are planning to approach the court soon,” he said.
Association’s director Mahendra Singhi asserted that this issue should be handled with humane approach. “Teachers of unaided schools are also part of society and their welfare is the responsibility of the government, management and parents at large. Now, most of the managements are facing severe financial crisis. We will somehow manage to pay 33% of salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff, if the government helps us with 33% from its exchequer and allow us to collect 33% from parents. We will meet the chief minister soon” he stated.