Owing to the financial difficulties parents in Andhra Pradesh could face due to the lockdown when the next academic year begins, schools in the state have been directed to collect tuition fees only for the first quarter, and not for the entire year.
"In no case, should admission be rejected to a child just because full quarter tuition fee is not paid," the order by Justice R Kantha Rao, Chairperson of the Andhra Pradesh School Education Regulating and Monitoring Commission, stated.
The order is also applicable to junior colleges in Andhra Pradesh.
"The Commission hereby directs the managements of private schools, junior colleges and private teacher educational institutions in school education to collect only the first quarter tuition fee as fixed for the last academic year at the time of admission of a student," the order stated.
"Keeping in view the financial hardships faced by some of the parents of children, who request for installment facility, the managements of private schools (including junior colleges) are directed to consider the plea of parents sympathetically and help them to pay the first quarter fee in two equal installments, with a gap of at least 45 days," it added.
The order comes after several complaints about private schools and junior colleges in the state asking parents of students to pay the fee for the entire academic year of 2020-2021. Some even alleged that the children of those parents who didn't pay were not being allowed to attend online classes being conducted by the management.
The complainants demanded that the ruling YSRCP government issue clear orders on the matter and also take action against such incidents.
The move comes just days after a similar order was passed in neighbouring Telangana, where Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao ordered all private schools not to hike the fees for the upcoming academic year 2020-2021. Schools were also told not to force parents to pay the annual fee in one go or term-wise, but collect it only on a monthly basis.
Last month, the Andhra Pradesh government announced that final exams for students from class 6 to 9 were cancelled, and all students would be promoted to the next grade.
A memo issued to all regional and district officials of the education department from School Education Commissioner Vadrevu China Veerabhadrudu pointed out that the exams for classes 1 to 5 have already been conducted in the state, while the SSC (Secondary School Certificate) exams for Class 10, which were scheduled for March 31, have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Orders on the SSC exams would be issued later, the state government had said.
Meanwhile, with 80 new cases surfacing, the COVID-19 tally in Andhra Pradesh jumped to 893 on Thursday morning. The state nodal officer informed that of the 6,522 samples tested during a 24-hour period ending at 10 am on Thursday, 80 people tested positive.
The majority of coronavirus cases were reported from Kurnool and Guntur districts. Kurnool district reported 31 new cases, taking its tally to 234, while Guntur district's tally touched 195, with 18 new cases reported during this period.
Meanwhile, following 3 more deaths, the death toll in the state further climbed to 27. The state has accelerated testing in the last few days and has also clamped down on the red zones spread across 132 mandals in the state.