Temsu Pongen
Dimapur
In these uncertain times, school going children are severely affected due to the lockdown caused by the pandemic. To compensate the loss, most of the schools have turned to online classes, which in a way, is a small step towards keeping the students in tune and in touch with learning.
With the pandemic showing no respite and no signs of slowing down, chances are that educational institutions may remain shut for a longer duration than initially anticipated. This brings to the point of payment of school fees when they remain shut.
Educational institutions have genuine issues like payment of salaries to the teachers and other staffs even when there is a complete lockdown. In this regard, it is only fair that school fees should be paid, even if they remain shut.
However, there are certain irrelevant fees (to name a few - varies from institution to institution) - like the tiffin/lunch fee, stationery fee... etc, which the proprietors /authorities of educational institutions should consider exempting based on practicality, logic and merit. If they are already paid in advance, then they should be refunded or adjusted with other relevant fees.
There is no point in imposing these fees when there is no chance or scope of consuming/utilizing them when the students are not even physically present in the school campus/premise. The proprietors also do not stand to lose financially on these items. Especially the tiffin/lunch items, which cannot be bought and hoarded in advance. They are supposed to be served fresh and healthy. Needless to say, when there is a shut down, the simplest thing to do is not to procure them and simple logic says if you don't spent in procuring a product, then why impose fees on them.
It is well understood that the pandemic of such magnitude is unprecedented in recent memory, and it has caught every section of the society unaware and unprepared.
Not only the educational institutions but every household is facing the brunt of this killer virus. Parents in different professions are facing an economic challenge due to the loss in income and the surge in prices of all the commodities. As such, paying of school fees has also become a problem.
In this context, proprietors of educational institutions should do well by showing some amount of magnanimity and generosity of spirit by exempting such fees, which for all practical purpose are irrelevant and without which the educational institutions should run just fine.
It is pertinent to mention that, the government and the student bodies /unions should also intervene and look upon this matter seriously, so that the parents and the guardians of thousands of students get some well deserved respite in this already hostile and economically challenging covid world.
