Srinagar, May 31: Heads of primary and intermediate schools in Jammu and Kashmir are struggling to make ends meet due to the government’s decision to eliminate fees for basic school pupils (up to class 8).
Despite its good intentions, the decision to make education free and mandatory for all under the Right to Education (RTE) Act has put a strain on public schools, which had previously relied on small student fees to fund extracurriculars, technology upgrades, and other necessities.
Local revenues created via the collection of minimal fees traditionally played a major role in funding school events, sports, and most crucially, paying the impoverished sweepers a monthly stipend of Rs 100-200.
Since students are no longer forced to pay tuition, public elementary and secondary institutions are struggling to meet their basic operating costs.
The decision was made in a meeting in 2020, and the minutes were distributed. A teacher who did not want to be identified stated that since the minutes were released, there has been misunderstanding over how schools should follow the decision.
A government elementary school principal argued that the agency should have provided more money to elementary schools if it was going to eliminate fees for pupils until eighth grade.
“School administrators are in a bind since the Department of Education has not issued clear instructions on the subject of fee collecting. The principal explained to Greater Kashmir that, due to the financial hardship on the school, instructors are not allowed to charge pupils any fees.
According to him, schools in the past required middle class children to pay Rs 375 per year and elementary school pupils to pay Rs 200 per year.
“A portion of these fees, in accordance with prescribed shares, would be deposited into the account of the respective ZEOs, and the remainder would be used by school heads for a wide range of purposes, such as maintenance and development, the purchase of necessities like paper and printing materials, the organisation of school functions, the maintenance of the library, the management of the computer laboratory, and other extracurricular and community-based endeavours. He assured them that all the money was used in accordance with the law.
The RTE Act mandates free and mandatory schooling for all children under the age of fourteen, so naturally the conference focused on how to implement the tuition waiver for pupils.
Schools have ceased collecting fees from pupils despite the lack of a formal regulation on the topic. Another principal added, “The administration needs to clean house in there.”
When asked about it, Alok Kumar, principal secretary of the SED, said that the SED was aware of the situation.
Continuing on from there, “we will see how to proceed,” Alok Kumar told Greater Kashmir.
