Page 21 - EW May 2020 for Flipbuilder

cating these children to private school managements. Yet THEY SAID IT IN APRIL
according to Shashi Kumar, the government has continu-
ously dilly-dallied over the issue of discharging this accu- “I don’t want people to say ‘Oh, environmen-
mulated debt. “If government pays our member schools talists are celebrating this lockdown.’ We are
their s.12 (2) dues, they might be in a better position to not. is is not the solution. But whatever
defer fee collection and pay teachers and staff,” he says. the new normal is post-Covid-19, we have to
N oora in e F a z a l , managing trustee and CEO of the
CISCE (Delhi) and Cambridge International (UK)-affili- make sure we take this breath of fresh air and
ated Inventure Academy (estb.2005), a mid-market, top- think about the serious efforts we need to
ranked co-ed day school, is also surprised by the wide deal with pollution in Delhi.”
latitude given by the state government to parents to pay Sunita Narain, director of the Centre for Science and
contracted school fees at their discretion. “Most parents Environment, on nature reclaiming itself during the
are aware that schools have fixed expenses, including lockdown (The Guardian, April 11)
teachers and staff salaries, to pay every month. There-
fore, the majority duly pay school fees on time. Neverthe- “ e world has been put in a Great Lockdown.
less, the discretion to provide concessions to parents who e magnitude and speed of collapse in
have suffered loss of pay and/or income should be left activity that has followed is unlike anything
to school manage- experienced in our lifetimes.”
ments to decide on Gita Gopinath, chief economist, International Monetary
a case-to-case basis. Fund on the economic crisis triggered by the
Moreover, the gov- Covid-19 epidemic (The New York Times, April 14)
ernment circular
obliges parents to “Compassion might be about looking at
pay merely tuition people’s hearts. Real solidarity is about fol-
fees depending on lowing where the money and power flows. e
affordability. This migrant labour and the unemployed, whose
means we have to quiescence we seem to take too much for
absorb other costs granted, will be demanding their rights; not
such as payments to our mercy.”
bus contractors and Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, former vice chancellor of
drivers, establish- Ashoka University, on the migrant labour crisis (Indian
ment maintenance Express, April 18)
workers, interest on
Fazal: enablement call loans etc. In these “To my mind, the Modi government’s rede-
difficult times, par- sign of New Delhi brings to mind not so much
ents who value their children’s schools should aid and living Communist autocrats as it does some
enable school managements, rather than add to their
problems,” says Fazal. dead African despots. It is the sort of vanity
learly, the BJP government of Karnataka and the project, designed to perpetuate the ruler’s
Cparents’ community of private schools have less than immortality, that Felix Houphouet-Boigny of
distinguished themselves during the national lockdown. the Ivory Coast and Jean Bédel-Bokassa of
While private school managements have pulled out all the the Central African Republic once inflicted on
stops to switch — incurring substantial additional expen- their own countries.”
diture on hardware, connectivity and teacher training — Ramchandra Guha, historian-author, on the proposed
to online classes, government ministers and bureaucrats Central Vista Redesign project (thewire.in, April 19)
have resorted to populist rhetoric, while middle class
parents who shun free-of-charge government schools are “ e lockdown has come as a blessing in
showing careless regard for private schools established disguise for universities in India. e fear of
and nurtured with great expense. poor quality of online teaching and teach-
In these circumstances there’s a strong possibility of
a large number of private — especially budget private ers’ hesitation to use online portals has now
schools — downing shutters and upscale schools suspend- completely disappeared.”
ing online teaching-learning. The biggest losers will be P.B. Sharma, vice chancellor of Amity University,
innocent children. Gurgaon, on the switch to online education (Hindu
Akhila Damodaran (Bangalore) Businessline, April 24)

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