Several private schools, particularly the 'budget schools' in Hyderabad, are worried that they are running in loss and might have to close down because of parents who deliberately avoid paying their wards' school fee. After seeking and securing several extensions during the academic year, these parents evade payment and get their children admitted to another school.
In a bid to curb such cheating by parents, lower and middle-rung private schools are thinking of making No Dues Certificate mandatory for students seeking new admissions.
Private schools comprise nearly 55 per cent of the total number of schools. Of these, barely 5 per cent are international or corporate schools. The remaining schools charge fees ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 40,000 per month.
"If they tell us that are facing a financial crunch, we give them time extension and tell them to pay in instalments," says S Madhusudan Reddy, a member of Telangana Recognised School Managements Association adding that such pervasive cheating would lead to closure of nearly half of 'budget schools' in the next five years.
According to Imran Baig, principal of Adam School at Shaheen Nagar in the Old City, such cases account for about 20 per cent revenue loss annually.
The management of these schools are waiting for examinations in their schools to end to discuss the matter and make No Objection Cirtificate (NOC) a mandatory document for students seeking admission. They also plan to send the proposal to the district education officer and mandal education officers. "We plan to introduce it in the 2018-19 academic year for admission to Class V and above. Though the dropout rate is more in lower classes, the idea is to streamline the norm first," said Baig.
Explaining about the burden a school bears, the principal of a school in Jubliee Hills said that maintaining the infrastructure, paying salaries and spending on other activities cannot be taken up if parents do not fee payment on time. "When school managements ask for fee, parents bring in activists, local leaders and, sometimes, even goons and police. We are threatened and even implicated in false cases," she said.
Serial defaulters who change schools every couple of years to avoid paying fee would not be able to get No Dues Certificate from current school without clearing dues and new school will not take admission in the absence of the certificate.
