Page 18 - Education World July 2020
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Education News


             and lead petitioner in this case.    salaries.
                Although petitioners in this case   Responding  to  the  state  govern-
             have welcomed the court’s stay or-  ment’s  appeal  and  also  to  parents
             der, they stress it is an interim order.   facing financial difficulties due to the
             A battle — not the war — has been   lockdown,  prominent  city  schools
             won by Karnataka’s beleaguered   have agreed not to hike the school fee
             private schools.                 for this year. However, in spite of fee
                      Akhila Damodaran (Bangalore)  hike waiver, parents of many children
                                              in  private  schools  haven’t  paid  fees
               WEST BENGAL                    for the first quarter (April-June), and
             Brightening horizon              have pleaded for waiver of library, lab-
                                              oratory, games, computer and trans-
                                              port charges since schools are shut.
                   HE  CORONAVIRUS  AKA  COVID-19    With the fees payment due date for
                   pandemic has swooped down   the July-September quarter approach-
             Ton the country’s 375,000 pri-   ing, some school managements in the
             vate unaided (independent) schools   state  have  started  offering  partial
             and estimated 400,000 budget pri-  waivers excluding bus fees and meal
             vate schools (BPS) like a totally unex-  charges and waiving penalties for late
             pected black swan calamity. With the   payment. Some schools have also giv-
             economy in total lockdown for 68 days   en parents the option to clear arrears
             and a large number of employees and   in instalments.
             workmen in MSMEs (micro, small and   Inevitably, these adjustments and   by  education  minister  Partha  Chat-
             medium) firms and companies, which   concessions have had a cascading ef-  terjee.  “We  have  requested  schools
             employ 90 percent of the national la-  fect on teachers’ remuneration with   not to increase the tuition fee for this
             bour force, suffering salary cuts, fur-  several schools slashing teacher sala-  academic year and also not to charge
             loughs and lay-offs, state governments   ries  by  20  percent  which  has  nulli-  penalty. The rest of the decisions will
             have ordered private schools to desist   fied the pay rise that teachers in the   have to be taken by the respective af-
             from collecting fees for the lockdown   state had belatedly received in Janu-  filiating bodies. Therefore, I have in-
             period. These orders have created un-  ary under the Sixth Pay Commission   formed them about developments in
             precedented challenges including clo-  Award. On June 29, 100 principals of   our state and asked them to look into
             sure of thousands of private schools   private CBSE schools in Kolkata and   the matter,” says Chatterjee.
             especially BPS countrywide.      neighbouring districts wrote to chief   he circumspection and maturity
                Against  this  backdrop,  the  Trin-  minister Mamata Banerjee requesting  Tthat  Banerjee  has  displayed  in
             amool Congress government of West   the right to suspend online classes for   her second term in office after TMC
             Bengal (pop.91 million) led by stormy   children of defaulting parents.   ended 34 years of uninterrupted mis-
             petrel chief minister Mamata Banerjee   However,  with  an  eye  on  West   rule (1977-2011) over West Bengal by
             has emerged as perhaps the sole state   Bengal’s  legislative  assembly  elec-  the CPM (Communist Party of India-
             administration with some sympathy   tion which is less than a year away,   Marxist)-led Left Front government in
             for private schools. The notifications   unlike chief ministers of most other   2011 and won a second five years later,
             and  orders  of  the  state’s  education   states  who  have  taken  the  populist   has improved the chances of this for-
             ministry are mild. They advise West   line of ordering private schools to de-  merly stormy petrel of Indian politics
             Bengal’s  1,200  private  independent   sist from collecting tuition fees while   winning a historic third term in office
             schools and nearly 300 BPS to refrain   continuing to pay teachers, Banerjee   next summer.
             from raising tuition fees for the aca-  is  treading  warily.  Well  aware  that   With the CPM which provoked a
             demic year 2020-21 (which began in   West  Bengal’s  b hadralok   (refined   continuous  flight  of  capital  and  de-
             April), and to desist from imposing   middle  class)  places  a  premium  on   industrialised  the  state  during  its
             penalties on parents for late payment   the high-quality education dispensed   three decades-plus rule now a spent
             of school fees of the past four months.   by the state’s private schools, she has   force, over the past few years the BJP
             Moreover  in  media  interviews,  Ba-  abstained from directly intervening  in   has emerged as the main opposition
             nerjee made it clear that she doesn’t   the thorny private schools fees issue.   party in Bengal. In General Election
             support the ‘no fees during lockdown’   Instead, she has lobbed the ball in the   2019 it won an unprecedented 18 of
             demand of some parents associations   courts of CBSE and CISCE, requesting   the 42 West Bengal seats in the Lok
             bearing in mind that schools need to   their intervention.        Sabha snatching 12 seats from TMC.
             continue  paying  teachers  and  staff   This tone of caution is maintained   But there are signs that with the new

             18    EDUCATIONWORLD   JULY 2020
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