CAN’T SURVIVE, SAY BUDGET PRIVATE SCHOOLS

The Telangana recognised schools’ management association (TRSMA), in a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, K. Chandrashekhar Rao, on Wednesday, requested the government to take over budget private schools in the state, because of the pandemic and the consequent lockdown.

The letter’s subject which was ‘Save Education, Take over Budget Private Schools in Telangana’ further added that the schools that are serving 50 per cent of the children of the state with quality education at a modest tuition fee every year but are now facing an acute financial crunch.

Schools have been physically closed since March 15. They were pushed into existential crisis and things became worse when the government issued orders promoting all students from class 1 to 9 to the next class and declaring all students of SSC passed without the formal public examinations. As a result, 40 to 50 percent of the tuition fee that was due for the academic year, 2019 -20 remains uncollected.

With the lockdown being extended from time to time, we are unsure whether we will ever be able to recover the fees of 2019-20. Some of the budget private schools have already been closed down permanently and many more are on their way out due to severe financial challenges arising out of nonpayment of the tuition fee,' the letter read.

Finding no other alternative, the TRSMA has said that they hope to surrender the budget private schools to the government without any delay, and requested the Chief Minister to pay salaries to the existing employees at par with government staff and other running charges of schools.