Govt will be lenient towards pvt unaided schools, says Suresh Kumar

Dharwad: The education department is likely to take a lenient stance while renewing the recognition of the unaided private schools for the academic year 2020-2021.
It is expected that the department will not insist on fulfilment of conditions for renewal of recognition. The indication came from primary and secondary education minister S Suresh Kumar during his visit to Dharwad on Thursday.
According to the president of the Unaided Private Schools’ Development Association, Shankar Halagatti, the minister has assured a delegation of managing committees of unaided private schools which met him, that the government will not deny renewal of recognition to any school.
The managing committees of unaided private schools in Dharwad district appealed to Suresh Kumar to direct the officials to be lenient in renewing the recognition of the schools.
They said the financial condition of the private unaided schools in North Karnataka is totally different from those in Bengaluru and Mysuru, and they cannot be compared with each other. These institutions were started with the main objective of providing good education to the children in rural and backward areas, and as such are financially not strong. The lockdown has further pushed these institutions into misery, as the students have not been able to pay their fees, while the institutions are compelled to pay the teaching and non-teaching staff. The main source of income for these schools is the fees collected from the students.
Under such circumstances, forcing the schools to pay full salary to the staff and threatening not to renew the recognition for the ensuing academic year will put the students and staff in a quandary, the memorandum said.
The delegation urged the minister to provide financial assistance to the schools as per the demand, with a condition that it is returnable. Such a measure will help the institutions to pay the salaries of the staff for the ensuing year, they said.
Shankar Halagatti urged the minister to release the second instalment of RTE fees so that the schools can purchase study materials and pay the arrears salary to the staff. The minister assured that the second instalment of RTE fees will be released soon, and that other demands will be looked into.