Nagpur: The low fee collection is now piling up financial pressure on even big brand multi-branch CBSE schools, which may lead to salary cuts or even job losses for teachers. TOI spoke to some of these schools, who said they are reaching ‘financial breaking point’.
“The average fee collection is around 45% for most schools. Shockingly, the trend is that parents who are capable of paying are the ones who have not paid a single penny,” said a trustee.
Another trustee said, “Schools will obviously carry on as long as possible. Some have already cut salaries while only a handful are holding on. But I do not see this going on beyond December. From 2021, you will see salary and job cuts in every single school in Nagpur.”
None of the school managements wanted to speak on record, as a major court decision on the May 8 GR about fee is expected in the next few days. The May 8 GR prohibited schools from increasing fee, and also suggested that it should be reduced if possible. This was challenged in the Bombay high court and the GR was stayed.
The state government went all the way to the Supreme Court to challenge the stay, but did not get any decision in its favour. Hearings in the case at Bombay high court have ended and a final decision is awaited, one of the school trustees said.
In the meantime, the friction between parents groups and schools have increased, with some cutting off access to online classes till fees are cleared.
With pressure mounting on the education department from public representatives, they started issuing notices to schools. However, the legality of these notices is not clear.
Case in point is Bhavan’s Girdhardas Mohta Vidya Mandir (Hinganghat), which was ordered by the education department to return a staggering Rs4 crore to parents. The school challenged it in court and the interim order came in their favour.
The education department then started diving into accounts, salary structures etc of schools, something which was a grey area. Over 40 schools from Nagpur challenged this allegedly ‘out of jurisdiction’ actions of the education department. The interim order currently says that no coercive action can be taken against these schools.
A school’s trustee, whose family members are also part of the academic team, said, “The education department is acting like a dictator, under the influence of parents’ association and public representatives. But every single action of theirs is mala fide and not as per the law. Education department’s illegal actions are the reason that both HC and Supreme Court have not given even a single interim order in their favour.”