Sumeya Jan
SRINAGAR, June 18: In a much relief to students, authorities have directed private schools they shall not deny access to online education or any study material to poor students who are unable to pay school fees in Kashmir amid lockdown.
Barring a few weeks, Kashmir has been under lockdown since August last year, which has created a major economic crisis. Children of shopkeepers, transporters, street vendors are unable to pay their fees to schools.
Now Directorate of School Education Kashmir has come up with directives asking private schools they shall not deny online classes to students, who are unable to pay their fees.
“No school shall deny access to online education material classes to poor deserving students who are unable to pay school fees due to the prevailing situation. Online tuition fee shall be charged from students on a monthly basis instead of quarterly basis for the lockdown period,” the directives read, a copy of which lies with news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service.
“Tuition fee monthly basis which is reflective of the recurring expenditure being incurred for running the school such as the salary of staff, electricity bill, water supply bills etc,” the directives read.
Many private schools in Kashmir have already come up with the fee directions to charge only children of government employees and financially sound parents during the COVID-19 lockdown.
A private school of the valley in a notification says, “School fees to be deposited only by government employees and those who can afford it. Others who have been hit by the current COVID-19 crises need not deposit the fees till the crises are over and they once again start to earn their livelihood.”
Earlier, parents had submitted an online petition demanding no fee to be charged for students during lockdown.
“Are you serious about paying of full fees during the time of complete lockdown? Our shops, factories and businesses are closed. We know how we are making our ends meet and paying salaries to our staff from our pockets. So we can bear this burden, then why can’t these schools pay their staff during lockdown?”the petition reads.
It says that schools have been taking hefty fees from them since years. “Cannot they even pay the salaries of the staff on their own at this time when everyone’s life is compromised,” it says.
“And the gimmick of starting these online E-learning classes in order to justify charging the fees is all the more shameful. The quality of education through these classes is another low. They have become a burden on parents as everything the parents need to teach their kids, make them understand, help them with the assignments. Teachers are not even bothering to correct the sent assignment and send it back. How do you justify the full TUITION fees too. Neither the students nor the teachers or the system is ready and equipped with these online classes. These are a sheer waste of time and energy. As of now peace of mind is more important and we need to accept the current situation. This too shall pass and we can lighten the studies burden for this year,” the petition reads.
