Karnataka teachers, school officials take to streets against 30% fee cut order

Parents and private schools have locked horns after schools resisted the Karnataka government order, saying that they have to pay their staff despite loss of income due to Covid-19.

Thousands of teachers, private school management representatives and other non-teaching staff from various educational institutions on Tuesday carried out a protest in Bengaluru against the state government’s order directing private schools to take a 30% cut in fee.

Bengaluru: Members of the Karnataka Private School Managements, Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff Coordination Committee (KPMTCC) take part in a protest rally against the state government's order for private schools to charge only 70% of the tuition fees in this academic year, in Bengaluru, Tuesday. (PTI)

Around 25,000 people took part in the protest.

Parents and private schools have locked horns over the issue with the latter resisting the order and saying that they have to pay their staff despite the loss of income due to Covid-19.

“The objective of the protest is the financial distress of private education institutions, unscientific fee reduction and the imposition of a new school clause for the old schools under the Covid-19 pandemic in the name of the accreditation renewal,” a statement from Karnataka Private School Managements, Teaching & Non-Teaching Staff Coordination Committee (KPMTCC) read.

“It will become difficult for school managements to sustain operations,” Shashi Kumar, general secretary of Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), said.