COIMBATORE: J S Siju is exasperated. Both his children — studying in classes 8 and 11 — have been removed from their digital classrooms as Siju is yet to pay the pending fee dues that add up to Rs 1.5 lakh. Money was not a problem for Siju and his family, until the pandemic struck. He and his wife together were earning around Rs 45,000 every month doing medical transcription. The successive lockdowns hit them hard. Siju’s wife lost her job, and the monthly family income has come down to Rs 13,000. “And then, my mother fell sick. It made matters worse. We had to pledge all the gold at home for her treatment,” says Siju.
“We requested the school management to try understand our situation. But, they refused. So I decided to put them in a low-cost government-aided school,” says Siju. Even that attempt has failed. “The current school has refused to grant us a Transfer Certificate till we settle the full amount of Rs 1.5 lakh, including an arrear of Rs 30,000 from last year. They claim it is because the classes have already started. But, if I had that money, why would I switch my children’s school in the first place?” With no solution in sight, Siju is considering his options while the academic year continues to race ahead, leaving his children far behind.
Siju’s plight will resonate with every parent who has had their income cut down by the lockdown. It’s only the income that has reduced, the expenses remain the same, or how even gone higher. One such primary expense is education. While schools and colleges have not been allowed to hold direct classes — saving the managements from multiple expenses — none of them have reduced the tuition fee. The reason given for it: they still have to pay their teachers and other staff members. When the issue went to court, it was ordered that school managements can only take 75 per cent of the fee they were collecting the previous year, and that too in two installments.
But like most other laws and legislations of our land, the ‘relaxation’ is just on paper. The parents, on the other hand, are still tense. The fear of their children being left out of online classes is making many yield to the pressure exerted by school managements, even if it means taking loans or pledging properties. For those who do not have material wealth at their disposal, there is only one solution: switch to a lower cost school. That is what P Viji living in Mettupalayam did.
“Once the court order came, the school asked us to immediately deposit 40 per cent fees as first installment. As I could not arrange the money, they kicked my kids out of the WhatsApp group used for online classes.” Viji’s two children now study in a government school. V Revathi of Coimbatore has the same story. She was asked to pay Rs 26,000 before July 25 for her son studying in class 9. Now, he goes to a Corporation School. “Where will the money come from, when we are already struggling to deal with the lockdown?” is the question that most parents ask. This plight is uniform, across educational boards and across districts, North to South.
A CBSE school in Mettupalayam blocked several students from online classes until first installment was paid. Now, they have already started demanding the second installment, even though a decision on physical classes is nowhere in the horizon. The torment stretches all the way from playschool to college. A playschool in Tiruvallur has allegedly told the parents that there will be no concession in the annual fees. They would have to pay the full amount as was charged the previous year. “I cannot believe that my two-year-old has online classes,” says a dad who does not want to be named.
“The only reason we are having to play along is that the school has refused to enrol children at a later point. So, if we miss out now, we will never get admission here. At the end of the day, I pay for the classes, the electricity, the broadband, and the only person attending the class is me and not my child, because he keeps running away!” For parents in the lower income group, the 40 per cent installment set by the court is also a massive challenge, say activists.
“The government must consider cancelling this year’s semester fee,” says Student’s Federation of India’s (SFI) Coimbatore district secretary M Dinesh Raja. His views are echoed by Nirmala, mother of two school-going children. Nirmala’s husband tested positive for Covid, and was subsequently fired from his job. “I had to sell my earrings to buy a smartphone so that my sons, in classes 10 and 12, can attend their online lessons.” Later came the diktat to pay the first fee installment. “I borrowed Rs 50,000 from a local money-lender. He gave only Rs 43,000, after deducting the first two month’s interest. Now, from September, I have to pay him Rs 3,500 every month.
I don’t know from where the money will come.” So, why doesn’t Nirmala switch her children to a low-cost school? “I cannot do that. They are in class 10 and 12. These are crucial years. I cannot allow these problems affect their education.” While private participation is crucial to boost access to quality education, successive governments have failed to do two things: one, form a nationwide monitoring panel to regulate school fees across the country and two, improve the quality of learning in government schools to keep the balance intact.
It’s that failure that has put millions of parents at the mercy of school managements — pandemic situation or otherwise. Until that imbalance is fixed, mothers like Nirmala will have to sell their wee bits of gold in the hope of providing the best-possible quality of education that they can afford for their children. (With inputs from Sushmitha Ramakrishnan in Chennai)
Money-wise, can you be wise?
How much do families spend on education?
Average expenditure per student incurred during the 2017-18 academic year for general courses (including school & non-technical college education)
51% of the expenditure for general education and 76% of the expenditure for technical education were on course fees
Classism in classroom
@ Chennai
Rs 1,00,000 has become a normal fee amount in many elite central board and international schools. There are educational institutions charging several lakhs a year, under the garb of providing facilities including horse-riding, swimming, and western music and dance lessons. The Right to Free Education Act is barely implemented in many of these institutions. If it is, the extra charges and activities are far from affordable for the underprivileged kids
@ Tiruchy
Rs 1,25,000 and higher seems to be the benchmark in Tiruchy for top schools, most of them being central board. Top state board schools at the most charge only three fourth of that fee. The fee was Rs 80,000 for Class 4 in one of top CBSE schools. For Class 11 & 12, the school charged Rs 1.25 lakh. So what services do these schools offer for the money? A popular primary school is well-known for their Montessori education while in higher classes, the main selling point is JEE and NEET coaching. Schools bring in faculty exclusively for this and two of the famous schools in the city have tie-ups with popular coaching institutes in India. All these schools have hostels, and that fee ranges from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh per annum. Other facilities offered include digital classrooms with projectors and multiple screens, laboratories for even primary classes and sports facilities including those for tennis, archery and swimming that involve high maintenance charges
@ Coimbatore
Rs 1,00,000 Some CBSE schools in the city collect more than `1 lakh as fees for providing facilities like AC classes, labs, auditoriums, hostels, library, canteen, indoor games and music, says the correspondent of a private school. But, she added: “My school aims is to provide quality education for the students. We pay teachers up to Rs 35,000 per month. Apart from that, we also give importance to practical learning and sports in our schools. In our school, we have fixed a minimum fee of Rs 23,000 for primary class, which is reasonable when compared to most schools. We also provide self-defence training and other extracurricular activities
A loophole, your honour!
When the government pleader informed the High Court that there were several complaints coming from parents, saying that educational institutions were insisting that full fees be paid, the court ordered an inquiry to be conducted by the School Education Department. The court called for immediate action to be taken against erring schools. It demanded a list of errant schools, and threatened contempt proceedings. But how did the schools respond to this? Parents allege that they are now being forced to sign letters declaring that they were not coerced to pay the full fees. “Schools are hoping to evade action with these letters,” say sources in the government.
Teachers call the bluff
The sole reason cited by school managements when demanding payment of fees is that they need to pay salaries to teachers and other staff. Is that true? A section of teachers Express spoke with say their salaries have already been slashed severely. “Our school has cut 40 per cent of our pay,” says G Kousalya, who teaches at a private school in Coimbatore. In some cases, the salaries are paid in installment basis. “As there are no online classes for the kindergarten students, teachers handling those classes have been asked to report to work only after physical classes resume. Till then, we don’t get paid,” says P Stella, who works with a matriculation school in Siruvani Road.
‘Online classes just an excuse’
Tamil Nadu Teachers and School Protection Association general secretary R Ramkumar feels that most private schools see online classes only as an excuse to collect fees. “There is a court order, but Chief Education Officers (CEOs), who wield enormous power, become mute spectators. Even if a parent gives a complaint, CEOs do not take any action. Finally, the parent who complains is affected. That is the reason parents don’t come forward to give written complaints,” he said, alleging that SED officials act in favour of private schools. The SED should form district-level committees to monitor and inspect schools regarding fee collection.”
I had to sell my earrings to buy a smartphone so that my sons, in classes 10 and 12, can attend their online lessons— Nirmala, a parent