Two city schools put on hold fee hike, amid lockdown

Two prominent schools in the

city have put on hold their decision to hike fees for the new session, in response to a plea by the government asking educational institutes to be "sympathetic" towards parents, amid the difficulties faced by them during the lockdown.

South Point School, one of the largest educational institutes in Asia, said in a statement on Saturday that the fee structure proposed by the school for 2020-21 "shall presently be held in abeyance".

"The school, being a private and unaided institution, is completely dependent on the fees paid by the guardians to meet all its expenses and to pay salary to its staff. However, in the prevailing situation...we would like to inform all parents that the fee enhancement proposed by the school for the academic year 2020-21 is presently being held in abeyance.

 

"The school shall charge from guardians' bank accounts an ad hoc amount against fees for the months of April and May 2020 by a date... We are deferring the collection of other components of fee and other charges that are usually collected in the month of April, for the time being till we are able to reopen the school," the authorities said in a notice.

The notice also gave assurances that guardians, who may not have sufficient money in their accounts, will be given time till May 15 to make the ad hoc payment, with no imposition of fines.

Another private school in the city, DPS North Kolkata, has also announced on its website that it would not increase tuition fees and session charges.

"As you all know we did not increase the fees last session, the enhancement of fee was due this year. However, keeping in mind the current situation which has caused financial hardships to people, the management has decided not to enhance the tuition and session charges for the new session with regard to the request of West Bengal government," the statement on the website said.

Don Bosco Park Circus, one of the top ICSE schools in the city, has posted on its website that "fee payment gateway has been disabled for a few days. There will be no late fee this month."

The school, however, did not furnish any other detail.

A south Kolkata English-medium school has deferred fee payment for the next two months.

"Keeping in view the hardships faced by students and their parents, Vivekananda Mission School has put off for now the payment of bi-monthly fees for the new academic session," a spokesperson at the institute said.