Parents question committee meant to verify their financial sufferings post covid

Stating that the decision of Principals Progressive Schools’ Association (PPSA) of forming a committee to verify whether parents actually suffered financially loss due to Covid-19 pandemic is just another way of harassing parents and students of private schools, the president of Uttarakhand Abhibhavak Sangh (UAS) Ram Kumar Singhal today appealed the education department not to approve such verification exercise.

He pointed out that more than 90 percent of the parents in Dehradun deposit tuition fees of their wards in time and even those parents who can prove that their financial condition was adversely affected due to Covid-19 pandemic are being compelled by the schools to submit the fees. “A parent who was a school van driver in a private school before the pandemic did not have sufficient money to deposit the fee of his child due to which he did not even let his child attend online classes. When he mentioned this to the school administration, they told him to deposit the fees from July onwards and asked him not to worry about the fees of April, May and June. Now they are pressurizing him to deposit school fee and threatening to rusticate the child” said Singhal. He asked, “When the parent used to work in the same school before the pandemic and they know that school vans are not working for months, how can they force such parents to deposit fees. What more do the school management require as proof to verify whether his financial condition is actually bad post covid?” He further added that many parents avoid going against the schools because they are afraid of their children’s future but the said committee suggested by PPSA will add insult to the injuries of such helpless parents. Meanwhile, Singhal also asserted that most of the private schools are not paying 100 percent salary to their staff but they still claim they are bearing losses. Where are they losing money? They might not be earning lavishly as in precovid scenario but the private schools are certainly not bearing heavy losses as they continuously mention, said Singhal.

Monday, 21 December 2020 | PNS | Dehradun