Unable to afford private schools, parents shift kids to government schools

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 4

 After a bout of jaundice the dreams of 16-year-old Shivani to go back to her old school have now been dashed – as hit by the pandemic, her family can’t afford private education anymore.

Both daughters of Sukhwinder Kaur, a grocery store owner, are also being shifted to a government school as the parents can’t afford private education.

Hardeep Singh a bus driver who was laid off months ago has also shifted both his sons from private schools.

 At the Government Senior Secondary Smart School Virk, as many as 30 new students from private schools have taken admission this year – a number that is three times those admitted last year.

  And these are not just random cases. In fact, these just reflect the trend being witnessed in most towns and cities of punjab. With the Covid-19 rendering people jobless hundsreds of families have lost the means to earn a livelihood making it difficult for the parents to afford to educate their children in expensive private schools. Many parents are, thus, making their kids shift from private schools to government schools.

 Sukhwinder Kaur, who runs a grocery store, stares at uncertainity amid drastically reduced earnings this year. Her husband, who is in Muscat has also been laid off and is unable to send money from there. Sick of the repeated calls from the school seeking fee payment, she has planned to enrol her two daughters (one in Class VI and the other one in Class X ) to a government school.

 Sukhwinder says, “The private schools only care about fees. They stopped sending my daughter’s home work tasks and began pressurising us to pay the fee. My daughter was told that she won't be allowed to sit for exams and will not be taught unless her fee was paid. We are left with no choice. My grocery store doesn’t get as many customers, due to no weddings my beauty parlour, too, is on the verge of closure. Government school is the only choice that we have now if the children have to continue their studies.”

Shivani, who had jaundice earlier this year, too, can’t pay her private school fees because her father, a daily wager, isn’t getting work due to the pandemic. Both she and her younger brother have been enrolled to a government school at Patara. Her aunt Saroj Rani says, “She was very sick. Her father isn’t getting as much work as he did before the pandemic. Teachers of her school were pressurising them to pay Rs 28,000 fee. We can’t pay that much. We have admitted both the children to a government school.”

 Hardeep Singh, a bus driver in a leading transport company said, “When I lost my job I decided to shift my kids to the government school. I have friends, cousins and acquaintances who are facing a similar dilemma. Everyone in the transport business – be it in India or abroad – is merely surviving. We no longer can afford to send our children to private schools. My sons, who are in Class V and VI, know that their father is out of job so they have dealt with the shift smoothly. The silver lining is that the level of government schools is much better now.”

 Activist Vivek Joshi, who has been approached by several parents with similar problem, says, “The pandemic is snatching away children’s right to education. Schools stop at nothing to get the fee. It is sad that exorbitant fee is being charged without classes being held.”