Mumbai: Private unaided school association has written to the chief minister seeking freedom to levy fees from students, failing which about 30 % budget schools could close down in state.
According to Bharat Malik, past president of the Maharashtra Chapter of the Private Unaided School Managements Association (PUSMA), there are about 8000 budget schools in the state, charging fees between Rs 500 – 1500 per month.
Maharashtra government has directed schools not to coerce fees from parents in the wake of economic depression owing to Covid-19 pandemic.
The schools are also upset with the State for questioning their right to disburse online education. Schools are upset that failure to impart online education could further disrupt the already fragile fiscal position of the school currently. “In my school, only about 35% of parents are paying fees, when I need about 65% of fee revenue for paying teachers. How can I expect teachers to work without salaries? Most schools have not received their last year’s school fees since many parents tend to pay them around the end of the academic year around April,” says Malik.
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Malik says that the school economics is further compounded by the students sent by government under the Right to Education (RTE) scheme, which has pending dues of about Rs 700 crores of various schools by the state. The PUSMA also stated that the state should prepare to accept the migration of a large number of students from the budget schools to the public schools due to economic scenario. Currently, Mumbai alone has 2, 71,903 students learn in 1194 municipal schools and the BMC has allocated Rs 2,944.59 crores for spending on education in 2019-20.
Neelam Shelar, a parent of a kindergarten student, in one of Mumbai’s containment zones, says: “My four-year-old daughter’s school would send links of educational videos and study materials of stories and poems. But, my daughter just wouldn’t sit through them. I have decided to not send her to school at least for six months and instead teach her at home. Losing her academic year is the least of my concern at this stage with the health scare around. A few of us parents have decided against paying fees as we heard that school is not paying its staff.”
