KOLKATA: Responding to repeated appeals by the chief minister and a section of parents facing financial constraints due to the lockdown, prominent city schools have started offering fee concessions and urging guardians to clear the arrears so that they can pay staff salaries.
Parents’ groups have been repeatedly pleading with school managements for rollback of fee hikes and waivers in components like library, laboratory, computer and transport charges since schools are shut. Last week, CM Mamata Banerjee weighed in with the parents and urged private schools not to charge fees for services not availed by students but added that she did not subscribe to the ‘no fees during lockdown’ demand since schools needed to pay salaries.
With many parents not clearing fees for the first quarter, several schools resorted to cutting teachers’ salaries. Now, with payment due date for the July-September quarter fast approaching, the school managements are offering some form of waiver to coax parents to pay the dues.
Over 300 parents of Heritage School recently met the school authorities with proof of financial constraints and were granted fee waivers. The school has also cut bus fees by 30% and meal charges by 50%, and waived off late fees for the previous quarter.
Don Bosco Park Circus has not only waived off late fees but given parents the option to clear the arrears in instalments.
The principals of six Loreto schools in the city are meeting parents in financial trouble and extending waivers on a case-to-case basis.
“We have given a 30% waiver on transport fee for quarter one and 50% for quarter two,” said DPS Ruby Park vice principal Indrani Chattopadhyay.
South City International, too, has offered 50% waiver on transport fee and done away with late fees. “Parents are at liberty to pay arrears and current dues in instalments,” said principal John Bagul.
Nava Nalanda has slashed fees by 18% and allowed guardians to clear their dues in six equal monthly instalments.
With teachers’ salaries in jeopardy since April, Xavier’s Institution in Panihati has waived off transport charges completely and appealed to parents to start paying the arrears.
The principal of Asian International School, Vijaylakshmi Kumar, has assured parents that there will be no late fee for the entire academic year of 2020-21. The school has waived off 40% transport fee for quarter one and 50% for quarter two and allowed parents to pay in monthly instalments.
While archbishop Thomas D Souza has announced a 50% waiver in annual fees in schools run by the archdiocese, schools under the Church of North India (CNI) will meet under the chairmanship of Bishop Paritosh Canning on Wednesday to discuss the fees and non-payment.
A state board affiliated private school off Gariahat, La Maternelle High School, which has not been able to pay its teachers their full salaries for April and May, has appealed to parents in a WhatsApp message to pay the fees thinking of it as “gurudakshina”. The school has offered a 25% concession on tuition fees.
A prominent city school, which had earlier reduced some components of the fee and extended the last date of payment of first quarter fees to June 30, sent a mail to parents on Tuesday Given it would be “left with no option but to exclude your ward from online classes” and restrict “access to resource material” if first quarter fees are not paid by July 10. The mail triggered an agitation by parents in the evening.
Parents’ groups have been repeatedly pleading with school managements for rollback of fee hikes and waivers in components like library, laboratory, computer and transport charges since schools are shut. Last week, CM Mamata Banerjee weighed in with the parents and urged private schools not to charge fees for services not availed by students but added that she did not subscribe to the ‘no fees during lockdown’ demand since schools needed to pay salaries.
With many parents not clearing fees for the first quarter, several schools resorted to cutting teachers’ salaries. Now, with payment due date for the July-September quarter fast approaching, the school managements are offering some form of waiver to coax parents to pay the dues.
Over 300 parents of Heritage School recently met the school authorities with proof of financial constraints and were granted fee waivers. The school has also cut bus fees by 30% and meal charges by 50%, and waived off late fees for the previous quarter.
Don Bosco Park Circus has not only waived off late fees but given parents the option to clear the arrears in instalments.
The principals of six Loreto schools in the city are meeting parents in financial trouble and extending waivers on a case-to-case basis.
“We have given a 30% waiver on transport fee for quarter one and 50% for quarter two,” said DPS Ruby Park vice principal Indrani Chattopadhyay.
South City International, too, has offered 50% waiver on transport fee and done away with late fees. “Parents are at liberty to pay arrears and current dues in instalments,” said principal John Bagul.
Nava Nalanda has slashed fees by 18% and allowed guardians to clear their dues in six equal monthly instalments.
With teachers’ salaries in jeopardy since April, Xavier’s Institution in Panihati has waived off transport charges completely and appealed to parents to start paying the arrears.
The principal of Asian International School, Vijaylakshmi Kumar, has assured parents that there will be no late fee for the entire academic year of 2020-21. The school has waived off 40% transport fee for quarter one and 50% for quarter two and allowed parents to pay in monthly instalments.
While archbishop Thomas D Souza has announced a 50% waiver in annual fees in schools run by the archdiocese, schools under the Church of North India (CNI) will meet under the chairmanship of Bishop Paritosh Canning on Wednesday to discuss the fees and non-payment.
A state board affiliated private school off Gariahat, La Maternelle High School, which has not been able to pay its teachers their full salaries for April and May, has appealed to parents in a WhatsApp message to pay the fees thinking of it as “gurudakshina”. The school has offered a 25% concession on tuition fees.
A prominent city school, which had earlier reduced some components of the fee and extended the last date of payment of first quarter fees to June 30, sent a mail to parents on Tuesday Given it would be “left with no option but to exclude your ward from online classes” and restrict “access to resource material” if first quarter fees are not paid by July 10. The mail triggered an agitation by parents in the evening.
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