Private schools appeal parents to deposit tuition fee

SRINAGAR: J&K Private School Coordination Committee (JKPSCC) has appealed to the parents to deposit their pending fee immediately so that the schools can meet their expenses and also pay the staff their due salary.

The JKPSCC, which has over 850 private schools affiliated with it, held a meeting and discussed in detail the problems private schools are facing in view of the shortfall of the pending fee.

The managing committee meeting of the Coordination Committee was chaired by its President Showkat M Chowdhary.

The managing committee said parents should comply with the order of the Principal Secretary, School Education Department, J&K Government and Supreme Court guidelines asking parents to deposit tuition fees so that schools can run smoothly and also pay the staff on time.

JKPSCC said the schools in view of the tuition fee shortfall since August 2019 were compelled to take loans from banks to release salaries to their staff.

During the meeting, the committee also decided to consider the concession in the tuition fee of the deserving parents.

“The parents who really deserve the concession would be duly considered. However, parents should not misunderstand deserving individuals as the entire population affected due to the lockdown. However, there are some genuine and deserving cases whose merit needs to be considered. For them, schools would not back out.”

The managing committee, however, said there are many low-budget schools which have already kept low fees and can’t afford any concession or their school functioning would be badly hampered and can also threaten their functioning.

“In that case, the Government can come up with a tuition fee scheme for parents of low-budget schools.”

The Managing Committee also appealed to the parents to take up any issue regarding the tuition fee or any concession directly with the school management only.

“No association, nor any parent organization, Mohalla committee or any other agency is authorized to finalise the percentage of the concession in tuition fee. The school management can only finalise the concession amount to any deserving case. The parents should also follow SC guidelines and J&K Government guidelines.”

The JKPSCC said in India, all State and UT governments asked parents to pay tuition fees on monthly basis.

“Delaying or non-payment of the tuition fee will only affect students’ studies as teachers are making every effort to provide all the study materials online and preparing the students in every subject diligently.”