A letter to the Principal Secretary of the Education Department, Mr. Sanjay Kumar

Patna

Shamael Ahmad National President Private Schools And Children Welfare Association met Principal secretary Mr Sanjay Kumar and handed over a letter regarding problem arising for both offline and online classes.
Shamael Ahmad

National President of Private Schools and Children Welfare Association, Mr.Shamael Ahmad today handed over a letter to the Principal Secretary of the Education Department, Mr. Sanjay Kumar, to discuss the difficulties arising for both online and offline studies together.

National President Shamael Ahmad said that the DEO has issued a letter related to online and offline studies simultaneously, which is not possible.

A) The issues in holding both online and offline classes concurrently –
i) The school does not have multiple teachers in various subjects to hold the classes concurrently.
ii) The classrooms are not sound proof and the school does not have necessary audio / video infrastructure to extend the same to have classes concurrently. The school has already incurred huge financial loss due to non payment of fees by the parents for the past 12 months. Therefore no additional expenses for making further infrastructure enhancement can be afforded by the school.
iii) The school cannot ensure uninterrupted internet connection during concurrent session as the teacher will be focussed on the students before his eyes and their reaction only. In case of disruption in internet , he will not be able to help the students online. The students sitting for offline classes will be disturbed during this entire process. This may discourage the students ,who are genuinely interested in offline classes.
iv) In subjects like Maths, Science etc, the usage of black board by the teacher , is an important tool .The stationary camera/ mobile cannot capture the blackboard activities in toto. This can deprive the students who are online to comprehend fully the activities of the classroom.
B) The issues in holding both online and offline classes separately at different times-
i) During the pandemic many who have availed the online classes have not paid the school fees, due to which the school could make only partial payments to the teachers and staff. Under such condition, which has lasted for almost a year. Requesting the teachers to handle both online and offline classes separately will be a difficult proposition. If enforced, it will only further demoralize the teaching community.
ii) Since the school does not have multiple teachers for the same subject in most of the cases, the very same teacher has to handle both offline and online classes. In the school for offline classes, the teacher will be spending about 5 hours for teaching and nearly 2 hours for commuting. For online classes the teacher has to again spend 5 hours after the day’s work is over and the teacher has to incur the expenses on internet, electricity ,etc.
The issues for the school
Since April 2020 due to pandemic, many have paid only the tuition fees either in full or part and most of the parents have not paid transport fees and other charges. However the school had to pay the drivers, conductors, road tax, monthly instalments to the financial institutions for the loan availed and also to keep the vehicles roadworthy. Now plying the buses in different routes will be a difficult proposition for the school. A 40 seater bus can now only carry 20 students, considering the social distancing norms. Even in this 20, one is not sure whether all routes can run to its capacity as only those who are willing will be boarding the buses. Therefore it is apprehended that in many routes , we may have to run a 40 seater for students on an average from 5 to 15 , which will be a huge loss for he school . This will not be compensated by anyone. This will financially break the school.

Considering all the above issues, the school can only go for Offline classes and cannot afford the online and offline classes concurrently / separately. The financial loss compounded so far will have to be borne by the school Management only. Therefore it is a humble request that the schools may be allowed to function only with Offline mode, so that some semblance of financial viability in these difficult times can be restored by the schools.
The deligation met with principal secretary including Shamael Ahmad and General Secretary Shailesh Prasad and Fauzia Khan.