COVID-19 outbreak: Payment of private school fees deferred in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: In view of financial condition of parents during COVID-19 pandemic, All Odisha Private School Association (AOPSA) has decided to extend the validity for paying school fees of the students.

A proposal in this regard has been cleared at a meeting held among the state-level members of AOPSA on Sunday in Bhubaneswar.

At the meeting, the senior members decided to give an option to parents to deposit school fees of three months — April, May and June — (without fine) by end of June after opening up of schools.

The purpose behind deferment of date for dues payment is to lessen the pressure on parents of the students during COVID-19 lockdown, AOPSA said in a release yesterday.

Clarifying over the decision for ‘No waiver’, the private schools body said that over 5 lakh employees are engaged in around 9,000 private schools in Odisha. During lockdown, the authorities of private-run schools are under extreme pressure to bear monthly salaries of employees, school rent and other expenses required for imparting quality education and functioning of the schools.

The private schools may witness grave situation if they will waive off fees for three months, said AOPSA president Satya Narayan Mishra.

The private school association convened the meeting after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urged all the private schools across the state to consider the reduction or deferment of school fees from April to June.

It will be of great help for parents, whose income has been adversely affected due to the lockdown and associated economic stress following coronavirus outbreak, the CM had said in a tweet.