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Demand clarity on syllabus cut, academic calendar from state; seek relief in GST and other taxes
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Class Owners Association (MCOA) on Monday demanded that the state government allow them to start classes with SOP’s and social distancing norms in green and orange zones across the state. Citing concerns of 15,000 staffers including teaching and non-teaching staffers from 90,000 classes, the MCOA sought support from the state in view of a 70% dip in their business. During a zoom press conference on July 20, the MCOA demanded clarity on the 20% syllabus cut promised in state syllabus as also clarity on academic and exam schedule and status of final year exams.
“We do realise the gravity of the situation, but within the prevailing uncertainty, the state could clear issues on academic calendar, exams schedule so that we could plan accordingly. We don’t know if the lessons we teach will be in the syllabus or not. The CBSE and ICSE boards have already announced their exact portion cuts but the state board hasn’t,” Sachin Karnavat, president of MCOA.
The association said that the majority of the classes especially in rural and poorer localities charged as low as Rs 9,000 per annum and only few high profile classes could afford to overcharge. They demanded relief in GST (they are currently being charged at 18%) as also relief in income and professional taxes as also to be allocated status of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) to avail bank loans to tide over the current scenario.
They also said that many classes suffered as they had not received dues from last academic term students due to sudden declaration of lockdown and even missed out on new admissions this year. “While some classes have moved online, they are hampered by factors like low data pack availability, weak bandwidth, shortage of mobile devices per family etc. But, we are on schedule in teaching our Class X and XII students especially of Science students which is syllabus-heavy,” said Prajesh Trotsky, secretary of MCOA. They said that many classes were on the verge of closing, affected by high rents and low fee collection and sought support from the state to survive.
