An Open Letter To Private Schools

THE FORGOTTEN PLIGHT OF PARENTAGE
(AN OPEN LETTER TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS)
Adv. Ashish Kadukar, Nagpur
“Yes…. We were having well-paying jobs which is why we could send our broods to popular Private Schools like Bhavans, Narayana, Centre Point, St. Xavier’s and the like. But these are uncertain times. You can’t shut your eyes on the fact that this Pandemic has financially crippled each and every strata of society and we parents are no exception to it. Our income has gone down drastically and our finances are severely disrupted. Some of us have already lost the last penny in the bag. And please be reminded, that some of us are also Teachers who are being paid half the monthly salary. While the outbreak of COVID has brought forth the troubles of the healthcare workers and migrant laborers, we Parents have not received deserved attention.
Can you envision the immense stress encountered by us about the future of our wards and as to how they will meet their educational and career goals in a post COVID world when notably, Maharashtra remains the worst-hit state?
Most of the schools in Nagpur have pushed for online classes forcing us to ‘manage’ for those ‘Gadgets’ and make us ‘Run’ against the clock. The hustle and bustle in one such house can be seen where one parent is a Teacher who goes ‘Live’ for the online classes, the other has to reach on time at his workplace and the kids-having never operated those ‘Gadgets’, have to ‘present themselves’ for the so-called online classes, all at the same tick of time of course. Moreover, the Teachers are directed only to finish their teaching time and none of the students are able to grasp what is being taught online. Children are exposed to maximum Screen-time which is only putting more stress on their eyes and brains. Thus, conducting Live/online classes is nothing but a circus for collecting fee from parents. The drawbacks of such live/online classes are endless. Such online method of teaching requires strong self-motivation and time management skills which are lacking in young children. However, we welcome the move of uploading only the study material in the form of PDF and video links.
This extravaganza was not enough, and we now face an additional financial stress of paying “full tuition fees”. Our highest concern is that, for conducting only the online method of education, you are charging full fees which is most unjustified and unreasonable on your part. At the outset, we wish to inform that, we are ready to pay the reduced fees but considering this Pandemic induced situation, we are praying for your support on humanitarian grounds.
We are well aware of the fact that you have to pay the salaries of your staff. But an enigma revolves around us, that where has all that corpus fund vanished which you have collected from us every year, under the garb of Admission fee, building fund, Amalgamated fee, Other fee … etc… etc… School have been substantially increasing the fees every year by 10 to 25% and we parents have been paying the fee without any hitch since past years. We have always failed to examine that the private unaided schools have surplus money to the tune of crores, which can be reflected from assessment of their balance sheets. Are you ready for that? All the private Schools are shouting about their financial crisis but does that really exist for you? The lockdown began on 26th March 2020 and till then there was no such financial crisis. You still had those reserve funds which can make you survive for rest of the year. On the other hand, our salaries are vanished. A simple equation – if a School having turnover in crores till March 2020, faces financial crunch, then what about the common man who has no income since last four months?
Confounding our predicament, even the law makers and the authorities have yet not come out with any clarity on their plans to give us some respite. Our agonizing wait has constrained us to think that - Do we really matter to you? Or, you will think about us only when you want your vote banks to brim? We were more pained when you were not even ready to discuss the matter with us and so we assure you that we will not stop knocking the doors of each and every authority.
We are also not given details of PTA Members and we are of the firm opinion that the PTA is not formed in transparent manner. Ironically, you have now resorted to arm-twisting tactics on parents by discontinuing the study material given to SSC and HSC students without notice, which only demonstrates that the Management is least interested about their Education and is only desirous in collecting fee. Imparting education is one of the most pious obligations, but you have wholly failed in doing so. It is evident from the fact that you have now publically indicated that we must transfer our kids to other School if we can’t afford your School. Such stand on your part is highly condemnable. This only shows you have engaged yourself in profiteering business and imparting education was never your motto but only a disguise.
Some Hon’ble High Courts in the country have dismissed petitions of parents on the ground that School fee is the policy decisions being taken by the government. But, when it came to Punjab and Haryana, the Hon’ble High Court did not grant any relief to the schools. In line with Punjab, various other states had also passed similar orders prohibiting the collection of such fees. These include Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh etc. However, here the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act-2011, remains a puppet in the hands of the Managements of Private Schools. The lawmakers therefore are the major stakeholders on whom we depend but fatefully, most private managements belong to them too.
So this brings us to the pivotal question, who will retort to our grievances? Obviously, each and every parent, individually, is capable to bring out a solution. It is and heartfelt appeal to hold the payment of fee till the Schools re-opens. There is uncertainty all around. Children are not going to utilize the School infrastructure in near future. We ought to remain united and refrain from falling prey to the pressure tactics. The online method of education is going to stay. During such times the Schools should voluntarily charge a nominal fee only for such online method of education and not the entire fee. The high handed actions of Schools need to be stopped and State Govt. will have to mediate and explore a solution. Perhaps judicial intervention will hasten things for us, which is our last hope.
We therefore most humbly request that:
1. Schools should forthwith reduce the Annual Fee by 50% for all classes for the academic session 2020-21.
2. School should not charge fee for those heads which remain unutilized in this academic session for e.g amalgamated fee, Lab fees, activity charges, other fee etc.
3. School should stop teaching through the live/online methods for classes Nursery to 8th Std. and only send study material by way of PDF and Video links.
4. School should not charge separate fee for such online/e-learning mode of education.
5. Prohibit the School from blocking the online portals for want of non-payment of fee and resume its access to all parents, including those who are unable to pay the fees due to this unprecedented situation.
6. We also request that if the situation arises, then strict disciplinary action be initiated on School Management including recommendation to CBSE for cancellation of its affiliation for such gross illegalities.
My Dear Parents, please let me know your views and comments and please share if you agree with me.
21st August 2020
Adv. Ashish Kadukar, Nagpur,
Practicing at Bombay High Court, Nagpur Bench, and can be reached at: [email protected] Mob. 9822737553.
Above is the personal view of the Author.