Schools willing to shut down if government doesn’t act against fee defaulters, pay RTE reimbursement: IESA

Members of the association addressed a press conference in Pune on Tuesday, stating that the government must and find a way out or be prepared to face closure of schools.

AN ASSOCIATION of private English medium schools, Independent English Schools’ Association (IESA), has claimed that schools are facing severe financial issues due to non-payment of fees as well as delay in receiving reimbursement from the government under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

Members of the association addressed a press conference in Pune on Tuesday, stating that the government must and find a way out or be prepared to face closure of schools.

The association said the pandemic had brought on several challenges for students, parents and educators. Members representing managements of private schools said most parents had cooperated in tiding over the crisis.

They claimed that while school managements had given fee concessions or waivers in case of loss of job or income or parent, in some cases, parents were wilful defaulters.

“We keep hoping that parents not under financial distress clear their dues on time, but with confusing communication issued by some functionaries in the government, they have become reluctant to pay,” read a press statement.

Reacting to a recent statement by state education minister Varsha Gaikwad that registrations of schools will be cancelled if they stopped online education over non-payment of fees, IESA members said if the government supported wilful defaulters, then private schools were willing to cancel their registration.

“We would like to work closely with the government in resolving this situation. Should the minister still persist on de-recognising our institutions, we would like to offer to close them on our own,” read a statement from IESA.

– Stay updated with the latest Pune news. Follow Express Pune on Twitter here and on Facebook here. You can also join our Express Pune Telegram channel here.

Source: Read Full Article