Lockdown since the last week of March, 2020 due to Covid-19 Pandemic and orders of the Directorate of Education providing for charging of only tuition fee by the private unaided schools from the students has squeezed all the resources of the schools as well as the societies running them and all these unaided educational institutions are struggling to pay the charges of the maintenance – be it electricity, internet, water, heavy bank loan EMIs, salaries of all the staff members and enumerable other bills and taxes. The authorities need to understand the financial constraints under which these schools are writhing in to survive and even remain afloat. The demands, desperate requests, pleas or SOS, whatever one calls it, being made by these schools are genuine and these need to be addressed. Indifference towards genuine issues and failing to extend timely help may spiral the situation to more devastating result drowning the schools and rendering their staff members – teaching, non-teaching jobless and students with uncertainties.
The morale of the teachers who have been working extended hours balancing their home front and the work pressure, adapting as quickly as possible to reach out to the students effectively needs encouragement, motivation and support from the Government. The managements would not be able to stand for long as they have already exhausted their reserves and are resorting to market borrowings without adequate inflow of revenue to sustain further. The managements without commensurate earnings are simply unable to meet innumerable recurring monthly expenses of the private unaided schools which have been left to fend for themselves on their own.
The schools are trying to ensure that the students do not have a loss of a year and making sincere endeavor in the interest of the students only to be faced with such unsympathetic treatment in return. The maintenance and upkeep of the school is endless. Fee structure of private schools has three components namely Tuition fee, Annual Fee & Development Charges duly approved by the Education Department under provisions of Delhi Education Act & Rules, 1973. In case of most of schools, tuition fee alone is just not sufficient to meet the even the ever increasing establishment expenses of the schools. The other two components viz. Annual Fee & Development Charges payable annually are utilized for maintenance of school buildings/air conditioning plants, infrastructure, procurement of computers, other equipment, payment of huge electricity /broadband bills etc.
As no other department providing services to the private unaided schools have waived off any of the charges, the payments being made by the schools are like burning the candles from both the ends!! Why this discrimination? Private schools are reeling very badly in this economic crisis. Why isn’t the gravity of the situation being taken seriously?