Srinagar: Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) Friday appealed the parents whose wards are studying in various private educational institutes to pay the school fee as most of the schools are on the verge of closure due to the financial crunch.
The Association said that the fee paid by a student is the only source of income for a school and if that income won’t come on time then it creates a survival issue for the educational institute itself. “As of now the physical classes in the schools are closed but every school is trying its best to compensate the loss by way of conducting online classes. Teachers have to do twice as much work to conduct these online classes,” said G N Var president PSAJK. “When the same teacher can’t be paid on-time how can we expect him or her to teach the students. We know that online classes are no match to physical classes but still it provides something to rely on.”
The Association said that there are recurrent costs for school but the income is either stagnant or has drastically gone down. “Number of our schools are on the verge of closure. If the schools get closed in the absence of collection of fee, it will destabilise entire education sector. All our progress achieved during the last three decades will be lost,” said Var. “The future of lakhs of students will be in jeopardy and livelihood of more than 60,000 persons will be lost.”
The Association said that it is a social issue and the society needs of come forward at this juncture.
Lamenting on the role of government in saving the educations sector, the Association said that there seems to be no roadmap before government in this regard. “All packages, policies, guidelines etc seem to be on paper only. We are yet to see government work on ground for saving the education sector especially securing the future of students and livelihood of more than 60000 teachers and other staffers,” said Var. “It seems education is of their least priority for the current officials at helm.”
The Association said that despite promises there has been no relaxation for schools with regards to official paperwork. “There was promise of grant of extension of registration and other NOCs but in reality everyday schools are being forced to get the certificates regarding affiliation, registration etc. Penalties are being levied on us. There is no relaxation in taxation too. In short there is no relaxation given to schools and in return every school is being forced to teach students free,” said Var. The Association demanded that current registrations should be extended to 2022 due to the extraordinary situations we are facing.
