Members of the Independent Schools Managements’ Association (ISMA) in the State have sought clarity on the issue of collection of tuition fees and flexibility in conduct of online sessions for students of classes VI to VIII.

In a letter addressed to the Commissioner, Department of School Education, Vadrevu Chinaveerabhadrudu, the ISMA members said most of them are CBSE schools, strictly adhering to the guidelines issued by CBSE and ICSE authorities from time to time.

They said that in April, they followed the four weeks’ plan of online learning given by NCERT, which had also recommended an eight-week Alternate Academic Year plan from mid-June, which the schools in Andhra Pradesh could not follow due to instructions from local authorites.

They said that clarity finally emerged on the issue after some of their members met Mr. Chinaveerabhadrudu.

On the issue of fee collection, the ISMA members cited the orders of the A.P. School Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APSERMC), which said that collection of fees before the commencement of new academic year was against the rules. They said that their academic year had already commenced as per the CBSE academic calendar.

In yet another directive, the APSERMC asked school managements to pay full salaries to their staff but was silent on fee collection.

They said that private unaided institutions like theirs would not be able to manage their expenditure without collecting fees from students, which is their only source of income. They also pointed out that the High Courts of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, Kerala Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat had given their verdict in favour of fee collection recognising the fact that schools incur certain expenditure irrespective of whether they are functioning or not.

They appealed to the Commissioner to give clear instructions on collection of tuition fees for the 2020-21 academic year.

With regard to online classes, they said that CBSE authorities had allowed flexibility on the number of sessions to be conducted and the ISMA was trying its best to ensure that the students cope with the lost academic time on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The school representatives also offered their full cooperation and infrastructure facilities to help the government strengthen the education system in the State.