Private schools urge guardians to pay fee

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, June 21 Private school operators across the country have asked guardians to clear student fee for the last academic year and also
pay the fee for the last few months despite the fact that schools have remained closed since March 24, due to the nationwide lockdown. Main
organisations representing private schools in the country & Private and Boarding Schools& Organisation Nepal and National & Private and
Boarding Schools& Association Nepal & issuing a joint statement today made the request to guardians
They have urged the guardians to adopt ‘live and let live& philosophy stating that they were having a hard time to sustain academic
institutions due to the lockdown. The joint statement came despite strict direction from the government not to collect fees from guardians
during the lockdown period. The umbrella organisations have insisted that since schools& revenue collection was nil, they were facing
difficulty in providing salaries for their staffers
They said there are above 200,000 teachers and staffers employed at around 7,000 private schools
A majority of the operators have been unable to pay the rent of the school buildings, and they have been served notices by the landlords to
either vacate the property or pay the rents, according to the statement. The statement also mentions that some operators, who had taken
loans from banks to upgrade their schools have not been able to clear bank dues. The organisations have argued that they were forced to
collect fees as the government did not announce any relief package for them, which could mean that all private schools could be closed if
they could not collect revenues from guardians. Tikaram Puri, PABSONchair talking to THT over phone said schools have agreed not to charge
monthly fee for one month during the lockdown and the guardians must understand the situation of the schools and pay the fees of other
months. &We have no other options than to request the guardians to pay the fees even during the period of lockdown,& said Puri
The organisations have also urged all three tiers of the government and other stakeholders to support private schools during this difficult
period. A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 22, 2020, of The Himalayan Times. The post Private schools urge guardians to
pay fee appeared first on The Himalayan Times.