Jaipur: Parents demand waiver on school fees

JAIPUR: Over 150 parents from different private schools gathered at the Central Park demanding on Saturday demanding fee waiver for the first quarter. They warned that they would stage an indefinite protest outside the CM residence if the government failed to intervene. They claimed that they suffered huge financial losses during lockdown making it difficult to for them to pay fees for of the first quarter. The meeting was held under the banner of All Rajasthan Private Schools Parents Forum (ARPSPF) formed recently to bring all parents on one platform.
Forum member Lovin Godha said they had been raising the issue since March, but it fell on deaf ears. “Initially, schools assured of considering their pleas, but from April, they started harassing us by calling every second day for depositing fees. It is causing a mental trauma for most of us who are worried about restarting our businesses and establishments in a scenario with no demand,” said Godha.
Some parents who turned up for the protest came prepared to mobilise more support for their cause. Vijay Sharma, a bank employee in a private company, explained that none of the schools has incurred variable cost since the lockdown. “Reports said that most of the schools have slashed salaries of its teachers by 10%-30% which has reduced expenses. Expenses on power, water and maintenance is zero. It is likely the schools will not open in the entire session. Every school maintains a corpus fund for meeting such an emergency situation. I am wondering how many schools have utilised that fund to meet the present situation. As per calculation, every school can easily waive 50% of fees for the first quarter,” said Sharma.
Another argument parents are relying on is online classes introduced by schools which they claim is cost-effective. During the meeting, almost all parents argued that they are bearing the cost of online classes.
“The cost can be calculated in terms of monetary, physically and psychologically in every household. In order to conduct online classes, a child must be equipped with a computer/laptop, hi-speed internet connection, separate room, constant monitoring of a parent during conduct of classes, which is not possible,” said Shruti Singhal, a parent at the meeting.
The body has started mobilising parents studying in every school to exert pressure on the government. So far, they termed tche response from the government ‘insensitive’ and ‘insufficient’ as they have not issued any directions to schools.
The panel has prepared a list of 10 schools which has raised fees during or before the country was hit by the pandemic. They will submit the list to the government asking them to roll back the revised fees else they will run a campaign against them on all fronts.