Page 45 - EducationWorld October 2020

nity to curry favour with the influen-
tial 300 million-strong middle class
which overwhelmingly sign up their
children with private schools, state
governments have issued notifications
directing private school managements
to defer and/or waive tuition fees for
the March-August period and/or offer
fee concessions to parents. Paradoxi-
cally, these notifications sternly direct
school managements to continue pay-
ing salaries to teachers and staff and
provide online classes for students.
A nationwide survey conducted by
the National Independent Schools Al-
liance (NISA) indicates that the fees of
a mere 38 percent of school students
countrywide have been paid during
the lockdown period of April-June
(see graphic p.40). In this connec- Budget private school children: severely disrupted cash flows
tion, it’s important to note that 70
percent of the country’s 450,000 pri- to pay teachers and staff. NISA has culars and inciting parents, including
vate schools levy tuition fees less than launched a ‘Shiksha Bachao Andolan those who can afford it, to stop paying
Rs.1,000 per month according to the — Fund Students, Save Teachers, Save school fees. It is a dire situation from
Private Schools of India Report 2020 Schools’ — national campaign de- which budget private schools which
of the Delhi-based Central Square manding a Rs.30,000 crore econom- educate over 60 million children will
Foundation (see EW cover story, Sep- ic package to fund students through take many years to recover,” warns
tember 15). school vouchers and direct benefit Kulbhushan Sharma, president of
R ECKLESS, CONFUSING ernment to give money to schools but tion of a school vouchers/direct ben-
NISA.
transfers. NISA is not asking the gov-
NISA’s demand for implementa-
to parents through school vouchers so
and contradictory cir-
culars and fees payment
supported by several organisations
notifications issued by they can use the money to pay fees. efit transfer scheme is endorsed and
However, there has not even been an
the state governments of Maharash- acknowledgement of our charter of including the Delhi-based think tank
tra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and demands from government. Instead, Centre for Civil Society and Educa-
Gujarat among others, have severely state governments across the country tionWorld.
disrupted cash flows and the financial are busy passing fees deferment cir- On August 4, in association with
viability of private schools — espe- Sharma: school vouchers proposal the Telangana Parents Association
cially budget private schools. Simul- for Child Rights and Safety, Educa-
taneously they have jeopardised the tionWorld launched a Covid-19 Action
livelihoods of an estimated 5 million & Relief Fund for Education — CARE
private school teachers with over 80 National Campaign 2020 which pe-
percent not paid their salaries for five titions the Central government to
months, even as government school initially endow a CARE Fund with a
teachers continue to be paid from the sum of Rs.2,000 crore — equivalent
public payroll. to 1 percent of the prime minister’s
“Numerous letters of appeal to economy stimulus package with an
government authorities including equal amount solicited from the public
the PMO (prime minister’s office) to into a CARE corpus to be maintained
save India’s budget private schools by the Union education ministry. The
which have been hit hardest by the petition demands that the government
Covid-19 pandemic have not elicited introduces education vouchers (from
any response, not even words of sym- the CARE Fund) varying between
pathy. With our revenue streams dry- Rs.500-1,000 per month to parents
ing up, most BPS have not been able of low-income households for the ac-

OCTOBER 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 45