Data from 170 private schools in Delhi gives a glimpse of the fee backlog

Vinod Kakumanu
Aug. 4, 2020, 1:10 p.m.

A survey conducted by a body of private schools has revealed that the schools have not received school fees from 9 out of 10 students. This is pointed out by a survey of 170 private schools in Delhi 53% of which have shown the backlog in fee collection.

Action Aided Committee of Private Recognized and Unaided Schools reported that 82 out of 170 schools within the fee range of Rs. 1,100 to Rs. 5,500 have only received 5-10% of the fee in the month of April. In May the number of schools receiving a dwindled collection reached 108 out of 170.

This survey concludes that 9 out of 10 parents have defaulted on the schools fee payment in 53% of 170 private schools in Delhi. The nonpayment of the fee has been attributed to the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 lockdown. The committee studying the impact consists of 400 unaided private schools. It is reported that by the end of May the percentage of seriously affected schools rose to 64%.

Delhi has 1,175 private schools and if the conclusions of the study are anything to go by, then a significant number of schools are affected. The number of students studying in any given school can range anywhere between 1000-3000.

While it is said that 53% of the schools were severely affected, the remaining 47% also bore the brunt. In 25 % of these remaining schools the fee was paid by only 10 to 25 % of the students and in the remaining schools the fee was paid by 25 to 75% of the students. Notably, there were only 5 schools, a meager 3 % that could secure 75% to 100 % fee collection. The situation is reported to have worsened in the month of May wherein no school is reported to have secured fee payment in the range of 75% to 100 % and 64% of the schools received fee in the range of 5% to 10 %.

The parents cited loss of savings, salary cuts and dwindling business as the reason for non-payment of the fees. The expectation that the government might waive off the fees for the schools as a relief measure was also one of the contributing factors.

It is notable that the state government did direct the private schools in April to limit the fee collection to the tuition head during the period of lockdown. Charging for any other component was deemed punishable under Disaster Management Act.