Pudukottai private school waives fees, parents vouch to pay back after crisis

TRICHY: At a time when many parents are struggling to pay their wards’ school fees due to the pandemic crisis, a private school in Pudukottai has waived the fees for all its 495 students.
The school management has taken the decision to relieve parents of paying fees who are already struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic. The school could retain students by taking such a bold step as parents would pull off their children from school citing inability to pay the fees.
Gurukulam Nursery and Primary School with transportation facility charges an average of Rs 20,000 annually per student. But only a few parents could pay the fees last year. “Since 90% of the parents are daily wagers, we realised that parents will not be able to pay fees this year as well after the second wave,” said K Sivanesan, 34, correspondent of the school.
Unlike most private schools that are located in urban areas, Gurukulam school is located in the remote Alanjirankadu village of Aranthangi taluk in Pudukottai district.
Sivanesan said the school was started six years ago with 20 teachers to give quality education to the rural students as most private schools are located in towns and cities.
The teachers were paid Rs 1,000 ever since the pandemic crisis began. Exhausting all the savings and mortgaging his jewellery, Sivanesan says that he can no longer pay the teachers.
While the school is against conducting online classes for children in the tender age, each teacher is ensuring minimum learning for their students by engaging them from their neighbourhood. Parents pay the teachers for taking classes during the evening hours, said Sivanesan.
“Waiver of fee has come as a great relief when I was thinking about pulling out my son from the school,” said S Karthikeyan, 35, a parent. One of the teachers in my neighbourhood is helping my son engage in academic activity. Many of the villagers have lost their income because of the pandemic. We will support the school as it has realised our pain and would pay back once normalcy is restored after the pandemic, he said.