Srinagar: Any private school that charges above Rs 1,500 monthly fee will give a fee waiver or fee concession to students who cannot afford to pay, the Private Schools Association has decided. The benefit, however, will be given to only those whose livelihood was affected by the Covid-19 lockdown.
President of Private Schools Association GN Var told Kashmir Reader that this concession will be given for the lockdown period after proper scrutiny of the financial condition of the parents.
“The student or parents should send a mail to the school and to us on [email protected], explaining why they should be given a fee waiver or fee concession,” Var told Kashmir Reader. “The application will be processed in a week’s time. Parents need to cooperate with us in case we need their help in scrutiny of their financial position. If parents face any issue, they can call us on this number: 7889578450, and register their complaint.”
The move from the private schools association has come nearly two months after the Covid-19 shutdown during which there has been no economic activity. People are either surviving on savings or from help offered by others.
Var said that private schools that take fees less then Rs 1,500 a month can only offer fee waivers and concessions to 10 percent of their students. According to him, such schools are more than 2,000 in number in Kashmir and do not have much financial resources.
“So, if there are students who still cannot afford fees in these schools, the government or civil society must come forward, otherwise the school will shut down,” Var said.
Var said the government should either transfer the fee money into the accounts of needy parents or offer the schools interest-free loans, or pay salaries to the school staff.
“We have some 65,000 staff in these schools. We have to pay them. It can only be done when schools have income,” he said.
Private schools have begun to ask parents to pay fees after the commissioner secretary for school education, Dr Asgar Samoon, in a tweet gave them permission. Now parents have begun to receive messages from schools asking them to deposit the fees.
In response to Samoon’s tweet, a parent, Ishtiyaq Wani, wrote on Facebook: “I request Mr Samoon to organise blood camps in schools. We parents are ready to donate our blood in exchange for school fees. I am ready to sell one of my kidneys because I don’t have any money left to pay the school fees. We have not earned a single penny since August.”

Junaid Nabi Bazaz