Karnataka: State Govt Orders Schools To Cut Fees By 30% In 2020-2021

Karnataka schools fee cut: The Karnataka government declared on Friday that all schools must reduce the fees for the current academic year by 30%.

The order has come taking into consideration the COVID-19 crisis. Further only tuition fees can be charged from the students. All central, as well as state syllabi schools, are to follow this order.

If any parent has already paid the full fees for the academic year, the school management is bound to adjust the amount in the fees paid for the next year.

Two weeks ago, a group of parents had conducted a protest in front of the State Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar's residence over the fee reduction issue. The government's order is the result of this defiance. 

Karnataka Private School Parent Organisation Coordinating Committee took to sweeping the street in front of the minister's residence in Bengaluru’s Basaveshwarnagar. Their demand was only school fee reduction due to the pandemic. 

The KAMS advisory

The Karnataka Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary School (KAMS) had passed an advisory regarding this issue on January 5. The advisory called for a reduction in school fees by its member schools in the background of the economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their suggestions include a 20% to 25% reduction in fees of schools whose fee structure is over Rs 25,000 per annum. Further, schools that have annual fees between Rs 25,000 and Rs 15,000 must relax the special development fees for the current year. Now, those schools that charge fees less than Rs 15,000 per annum can reduce their term fee to a maximum of 10% of their entire tuition fee.

The General Secretary of KAMS, Shashi Kumar said that though the government order states a 30% reduction in fees, in reality, it would amount to a 40% or 50% reduction.

He noted that there are parents who have not paid the fees for the past two years. He further commented, "The government should have issued guidelines for the parents as well instead of only regulating the schools. Or the government could have helped the schools who have already reduced their fees by 20-25 percent by directing the parents towards those schools."

Kumar reaffirmed that the state government has directed the schools not to collect any fees for laboratory, sports, and computer education.