From the desk of Principal

Although the schools are closed but schooling is going on. Children must be protected from the corona pandemic at any cost. The Covid 19 which started as a health crisis has now become an educational crisis. As a result of which the whole structure of imparting education has drastically changed within a few days.

Suddenly, we all have stepped into a whole new world with new challenges to face and dreams to achieve. All of us hope to see children back in schools at the earliest. After all, what’s a School without children? But the schools need to survive to educate children, post-corona, so do our teachers. We should have this broader picture in our mind while talking about schools, during this interregnum.

To be honest no one was ready or prepared for such a sudden change. For everyone it is like a do or die situation. Each and every sector has come to a halt. In fact the whole human existence is at stake. Still we have not been able to overcome the situation. In such an adverse situation when most of the people apart from few frontline Covid warriors were thinking about their safety and making the arrangements to meet the same,our teachers and school management were mostly busy in online meetings and phone calls to ensure that none of their students face any sort of setback in their studies due to this sudden crisis. Though most of us were not familiar with the modern technicalities but we immediately adapted the changes for the betterment of our children.

Presently, private schools are in the eye of the storm, for collecting fees from the guardians.If guardians are allowed not to pay school fees, how many of them will voluntarily come forward to pay the school fee of their wards? How will schools manage their expenses pertaining to salaries, rent, insurance taxes and utility bills; if their income plummets in such a scenario? Our honourable Prime Minister has announced that salaries should not be stopped and lay-offs should not happen. Undoubtedly, these are laudable considerations.

Now, how will schools pay salaries to their teaching and non-teaching staff, and meet all their maintenance costs? A school needs money to keep it going, whether it’s open or closed. There are many bills, taxes and statutory obligations to be taken care of. They have their ongoing infrastructural projects too. How will the schools manage them? Who will understand the plight of the helpless schools? The government proposed that tuition fees should not be raised for the ensuing academic year.

The private schools promptly responded by freezing the proposed hike and reverted to the last year’s fees. This is a reasonable move. We do empathize with the plight of parents who are economically vulnerable in a situation of this kind.

Schools could be asked to give indigent parents concessions or scholarships, or leniency in the payment schedule. Govt may well insist that name of a student should not be removed from the rolls of a school for non-payment of fees within lockdown period, and parents should be given a grace period of one or two months to pay in instalments, after ascertaining their financial problems on case to case basis. That would be fair enough.The larger section of parents can afford to pay their children’s school fees. Some of them consider it their primary obligation and duty. They know that the schools have their obligations not only to pay to the staff members but also to meet all their overheads.

For a Private school a prejudice is created in the minds of the public. This is a bit of unfairness.Private schools play a significant role in the field of education. There might be a few here and there which are run on profit-motive. That does not mean that all the schools are exploiters. Let’s not paint all of them with the same brush.

If the Government treats private schools with due respect as fellow-travellers in achieving the objectives of good and quality school education, the public perception shall also change. No one can deny that private schools do play a significant role in nation-building. This is a well-established and incontrovertible fact.

Therefore, a symbiotic relationship between both is desirable in the interest of quality education as without this, a proper balance in the developmental process of our students will remain a far cry.

Stay Blessed and Stay Safe...

Nilesh Srivastava
Principal
St. Xavier's High School
Ailwal, Azamgarh