Fate of budget private schools hangs in the balance as they wait to reopen

Hit by non-payment of fees, schools fear that many students will not return

• Ajmeri Begum used to teach in a private school in Telangana. The school had been unable to pay her salary since March. So she quit teaching and now works for fast food chain KFC. Another colleague from the same school is now an Uber driver.

• A private school in Faridabad has barely managed to collect fees from 20 per cent of its students since March 2020. Now that some classes have resumed, teachers have been tasked with convincing parents to pay the fees due. "They’re having to act more like collection agents than educators," says the school’s principal, who wishes to