Edu min Suresh Kumar invites schools for another round of talks

Bengaluru: After thousands of private school teachers, non-teaching staff and the school management members took to the streets on Tuesday, February 23 as a mark of protest against the government order pertaining to reduction of fees, Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar invited private school managements and parents for another round of talks.

Addressing the protesting teachers, non-teaching staff and private school management representatives at Freedom Park Suresh Kumar explained, “We had given time for private school managements and parents’ organisations to discuss the fee issue and come to the conclusion. But as they failed to come to any decision, the department of public instruction had to hear both of them and submit the report to the government, based on which the order on fee cut was issued.”

He further assured that the government would protect the interest of both parents and private school managements while taking decisions and the issue be sorted out without causing trouble to anyone.

On January 29, the State government had arrived at a decision asking all schools to charge only 70% of the tuition fees, after it met with all stakeholders including parents and school managements in order to give some financial relief amidst the pandemic. However, the 30% reduction was not accepted by many associations who claimed that it would have a cascading effect including the salaries of their staff.