Bihar: Funds crunch for unaided schools

PATNA: The Association of Independent Schools (Bihar) has urged chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar to ask banks to offer overdrafts or loans to educational institutes as per their requirements during the Covid-19 lockdown.
A letter in this regard was submitted at the CM office on Thursday. The association’s president, C B Singh, claimed that private unaided schools were facing financial crunch after waiving off school fees during the lockdown period and finding it difficult to pay the salaries of teachers and non-teaching staff.
“Teachers of all private schools are conducting online classes for almost eight hours.Now that the month of April is about to end, schools have to pay them their salaries amid financial crunch. The state government should, therefore, ask banks to provide loans to schools,” Singh said.
With four branches in different locations of Patna, the Bishop Scott Group of Schools has around 150 teachers, 50 non-teaching staff, 50 security guards, 150 drivers and 80 attenders.
“How will we pay salaries to so many people? Even if we get a loan, we will have to pay interest later. This is not a permanent solution,” Bishop Scott director Shailesh Kumar told this newspaper.
Holy Mary International School (Darbhanga) director Shyam Narayan Yadav said, “It is time for us to release our staff’s salaries, but we are in a fix because of this unprecedented situation. Even banks have refused to give us big loans.”
Don Bosco Academy director Alfred George deRozario also claimed that all schools were facing financial crunch. “Some parents have paid the tuition fees, but most of them have not. We will discuss this issue and come up with a solution soon,” he said.