Amid several reports of schools forcing parents to pay fees for the current academic year in order to access online classes, some private school authorities in Bengaluru are reducing fees and offering discounts. The reduction in fees varies from 10-30 percent on previous year tuition fees.

“We have appealed and suggested the school authorities to consider the present scenario as people are battling in the pandemic with loss of jobs and lives. Transportation and operating charges are not required and hence schools can manage to reduce their fees by 10-20 percent,” said D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS).

Blossom International School and Anikethan Public School are among the schools that have announced a fee discount.  

With the prevailing uncertainties about the pandemic situation and the reopening of schools, many parents are not admitting their wards to junior levels like Lower KG and KG. This is one of the major reasons schools are mulling fee reductions. 

Kumar further stated that there various cases where the parents have failed to pay the fees even after availing the online classes and other services last year. “The tendency is to wait and see how long can postpone paying the fees and continue accessing the classes. Many parents have also raised alarm regarding why pay so much more for just online classes. What they fail to understand is that these are subject to discussion and are at the discretion of the school authorities.”

However, not all schools are considerate of the circumstances. Some of them have not reduced their fees and students are being barred from attending online classes in case of delay in fee payment. 

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