Pune online education: Outrage forces Ryan International School to unblock students who haven’t paid fees

Pune online education: Outrage forces Ryan International School to unblock students who haven’t paid fees

Pune: Outrage over blocking certain students from access to online classes has forced Ryan International School in Bavdhan to reconsider their decision within 24 hours. Now, the school has unblocked access to the online classes for those students who haven’t paid full school fees yet, but at the same time no there’s lack of clarity on the fee payment issue. 

Parents of certain students had protested against the school management on Thursday (August 6) in front of the school gate in Bavdhan. Parents had alleged that the school had blocked access of their pupils to online education classes after they refused to pay the complete fee amount that the school had demanded.

Ryan International School had asked parents to pay the entire fee amount for this academic year – including the charges for laboratory, computer lab, sports activities etc despite the school premises being closed since March month. Parents had asked the school to consider their request about payment of only tuition fees for this academic year considering the loss of employment or pay cuts resulting from the four-month-long lockdown due to Covid-19 outbreak in the city. The school management had not responded to the parents’ request and instead blocked access to online classes for such students whose parents had not paid the entire fee.

When parents gathered outside the school gate on Thursday, Bavdhan Grampanchayat swung into action and issued a show-cause notice to the school management. Sarpanch Piyusha Dagade warned the school to mend their ways or face action. Relenting under pressure from the local administration and parents, Ryan International School finally allowed access to online classes for all students.

Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) committee member Pradnya Sahasrabuddhe said, “The school has unblocked access to online classes for all students after three days, but there is still no clarity over fee payment issues. School management should understand the situation parents are facing during this pandemic and economic crisis. Parents are ready to cooperate with the school.”

Ryan International School management had said that even though the schools are not functioning it has to bear expenses on maintenance of buildings, equipment, salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff etc and hence parents should pay the entire fee for this academic year. The school has incurred expenses to create online educational facilities for students. Still, we have taken into consideration the problems faced by parents and we have allowed them to pay fees in instalments, the school management has said.

Enjoyed reading The Bridge Chronicle?
Your support motivates us to do better. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay updated with the latest stories.
You can also read on the go with our Android and iOS mobile app.

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
The Bridge Chronicle
www.thebridgechronicle.com