No. of views : (4322)
Why are textbooks yet to be brought by private schools in TN?
Posted on: 10/Jun/2021 9:24:26 AM
There are about 13000 private schools in TN and these schools provide education to several students from the elementary to the secondary levels.
The parents of the school children have been facing unimaginable financial issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic and due to the lockdown. This has been the major reason why many private schools in TN have not been able to collect fees from the students.
Shortage of funds plus the inability to buy textbooks from the TN government have been reported by many school managements now. It must be taken into account that these private schools must provide salaries to more than 2.6lakhs teachers.
The nodal agency to print textbooks in TN, Tamil Nadu Textbook Corporation has more than 3 crores textbooks ready but very few self-financing schools have approached.
Schools tapped into their savings to provide salaries for the teachers and for buying textbooks during the first total lockdown in March 2020. After October 2020, many schools were unable to give salaries for their teachers as the parents could not pay fees due to financial constraints. This was according to Mr. K.R. Nandha Kumar, general secretary of TN Private, Nursery, Primary, Matriculation, Higher Secondary and CBSE Schools Association
He then explained that despite an order from HC saying that the fees could be collected in instalments the parents haven’t paid the last year dues. There were many schools that couldn’t pay electricity bills also. Truth is that in 2021 there are no resources left for many institutions. It is important to mention here that the TN government did not even reimburse RTE fees for 2020.Taking all these into account, the school education department must provide textbooks for free.
Mr. D.C. Elangovan, secretary, Federation of Associations of Private Schools in TN, was of the view that the government must provide loans (free of interest) to the private schools in the financial crisis. It was pointed out by a principal belonging to Pammal based private school that the school hasn`t purchased textbooks till now. She explained that for the time being for the sake of online classes, the students and teachers have been asked to download e-textbooks.
