NEW DELHI: Manju Devi, a resident of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, is staring at a bleak future for her two daughters.
The girls, aged 14 and 15, have been forced out of their schools as Manju could not pay their fees due to the Covid-19-induced crisis.
Manju is an Anganwadi worker who earns only Rs 2900 per month.
She is the sole breadwinner for her family, which includes four children and one alcoholic husband who has completely stopped working post-pandemic.
Her two daughters were doing well in school till the pandemic struck and threw everything haywire.
Today, they are sitting idle at home uncertain of what lies ahead for them.
The private school ignored Manju’s pleas for some relaxation.
It not only refused to accept fees in installments but also put hurdles in her efforts to find alternative education avenues for her daughters.
“The school asked for Rs 10,000 in fees last year but how could I have arranged this amount? I requested them to take the amount in installments and provide the links of online classes but they did not agree,” said Manju Devi.
Later, Manju tried to get her daughters shifted from the expensive private school to a government-run school.
However, since she had not cleared the dues, the private school refused to give her the transfer certificates.
Without a transfer certificate, the government school refused to admit her daughters.
“The school management is run by powerful people and I cannot fight against them,” says Manju.
Manju’s case is not an isolated one.
The coronavirus pandemic has robbed thousands of people of their livelihood.
Education has been the prime victim for families dependent upon daily wages for their day-to-day needs.
According to Abhishek Jain, president of a parents association in Jaipur, a complaint was registered against 2 dozen schools in Rajasthan that were troubling students for fees and online classes.
Notice was also issued by Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights but no action was taken against these schools.
In May this year, the Supreme Court of India had advised private schools to reduce fees as their running cost has gone down with classes being held in online mode only.
Private schools, however, have expressed inability to do so as they claim that they are already running into losses as they have not hiked the fee for the last three years and the maintenance cost of school building and infrastructure has also gone up.
Another ruling by the apex court in favour of private schools has only added to the conundrum.
On May 3, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the autonomy of private unaided schools to fix and collect “just” and “permissible” school fees from parents.
The court asserted that a state government cannot violate this autonomy even during a pandemic.
The ruling came in the wake of a notification issued by the government of Rajasthan asking private, unaided schools to defer the collection of fees.
Meanwhile, several private school associations have also written to district authorities and requested them to not allow students to migrate to government schools without a transfer certificate.
“We are only asking for the fees of online classes conducted as we also have to sustain our school management and the salaries of our teachers,” says Harcharan Singh Kingra, Swayam Sevi Shikshan Sansthan Sangh, Sangaria.
Kingra recently requested the district education officer of Hanumangarh, Rajasthan to not provide transfer certificates to students who have not cleared outstanding fees.
“Our school is in a bad shape and we have let go many teachers as we were unable to pay them,” he adds.
Several teachers across the country have lost their jobs or are working without salaries as the pandemic has left schools short on cash.
“It is the education which is getting hampered in this tussle of parents vs schools.
The government has not sent any money under Right to Education Act (RTE) as well because of which underprivileged students and teachers are suffering,” says Vijay Goyal, founder of Rajasthan at Resource Institute for Human Rights, an NGO working on child rights.
Rakesh, a chemistry teacher in Rajasthan’s Sangariya, lost his job last year and has been working under NREGA.
“It is not the fault of parents that they are unable to pay fees and neither is it the school’s fault.
How will they pay our salaries when they do not have any money left,” says Rakesh.
“We were told that whatever amount the schools will get under RTE we will get our salaries from it but Rajasthan schools have not been given any money under RTE,” Rakesh adds.
School operators have also protested against the state government for not clearing the due amount under RTE.
According to school operators the government has to pay around Rs 800 crore (pending for two years) to more than 50,000 schools.