Private schools want to charge students ‘Covid fees’

Created on: 2020-11-06 06:33:24 | Author: Team Sikshatoday | Home Page | Schools

Kolkata: More schools plans to introduce ‘Covid fee’

After two prominent Kolkata schools introduced ‘Covid expenses’ in their revised fee structures, more schools indicated they were considering a similar move. As per sources, a meeting was held within a prominent Christian order in the city recently that runs two of the city’s most prestigious schools. The meeting was held over the necessity of introducing a “Covid fee”.

The two schools, which had announced the addition of Covid fee head had uploaded the same on their websites, along with the declaration of the 20 percent fee waiver, as per an order by the Calcutta High Court. Both the schools mentioned that every student would be charged Rs 500 for the expenditure the institutes were incurring during the pandemic. The notices at the two schools stated that the reason behind charging the extra fees were for online platforms and sanitisation.

The Christian order reportedly held a meeting of the school heads to discuss whether the Covid charge would remain or a review needed to be done. One school head indicated, “The Covid head remains as on date, but we are doing a review.”

Archbishop Thomas D Souza, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Kolkata, said the six schools that the archdiocese ran, had given 20 percent fee waiver on tuition fees following court orders. He added that though he had not introduced Covid expenses in the fee structure yet, there was no denying schools were incurring the essential expenses now.

“Christian schools already give a lot of waivers to students who cannot afford fees and these are beyond what was stipulated by the court. So, a flat 20 percent concession will affect those who have been given more waivers,” Father D Souza said.

Supriyo Dhar, secretary at La Martiniere Schools, said, “Covid expenses are part of our account books now and we are spending a lot of money on sanitisation, given our huge campus size. But we have not yet passed it on to fees.”

Christian schools (non-CNI) are uniting under West Bengal Association of Christian Schools to file an appeal in the Supreme Court this week, citing protection of the rights of minority schools and non-interference from outside. Some orders, like Loreto and Christian Brothers are not likely to join. CNI has also filed an appeal in the SC, and some Methodist schools and Calcutta Girls’ have joined them in this.

Source: Times of India

Bangalore: Private schools want to charge students ‘Covid fees’ to cover sanitisation costs

Private schools in Bangalore want to charge additional ‘Covid fees’ to cover the costs of sanitisation and disinfection necessary once students return to campus from September 21. The Centre recently announced standard operating procedures for schools to follow, which included deep cleaning of premises that had been used as Covid facilities and sanitisation of buildings.

Private school managements suggests that reopening of schools will be a huge responsibility on them as they have to ensure the safety of their students if they choose to return. For this, the schools added certain costs and will go up since mandatory Covid protocols state schools will have to clean and disinfect the premises every few hours. Furthermore, areas/surfaces that are frequently used by staff and students — such as railings, desks, chairs and equipment — have to be constantly sanitised.

Shashi Kumar, general secretary of Associated Management of English Medium Schools says, “We plan to use 70 per cent alcohol wipes and good disinfectants to ensure the safety of our students. The housekeeping budget may go up by 5 per cent, but in the long run, only our children will benefit.”

Some schools said that charging the additional ‘Covid fees’ from parents will make them aware of the schools’ plans to keep children safe. Kumar added, “It is a genuine expenditure, as housekeeping is going to escalate. We would need thermal scanners, disinfectants and necessary infrastructure.”

Source: The Print