Indian school students now need to only pay basic tuition fees

Muscat: Parents of Indian school students will only need to pay their children’s basic tuition fees from May to August 2020, and are exempt from paying all non-curricular fees until that time.

The decision was made by the Board of Directors of Indian Schools in the Sultanate of Oman, to lessen the economic impact of the novel coronavirus on families in the country.

This will also be the case for those parents who’ve already paid extracurricular/non-tuition fees for the coming months, and these will be adjusted with their child’s next tuition fee.

The Board of Directors has also said that those parents or students who have tested positive for COVID-19 will receive a 50 per cent concession of tuition fees due until the end of the academic year 2020-21.

Nevertheless, all students shall be allowed to access virtual classes irrespective of fee payment.

“We are sure this will come as a huge relief to most parents. Indian Schools, being community schools, are committed to the welfare of our students and parents,” explained Dr. Baby Sam Saamuel, Chairman, Indian School Board.

“We have implemented these decisions, despite the severe financial challenges faced by our schools, as part of this commitment, to aid the parents in their time of need.”

“However, as unaided community schools, we depend on the revenues from fees for the sustainability of the schools,” he added.

“While we reiterate our support to parents and students, we would like to highlight that the schools too have been drastically impacted by the pandemic. We seek the support of community and parents in effecting timely payments of fees on a monthly basis and clear the pending dues in order to ensure cash flows to facilitate staff salaries.

“Together we shall overcome the challenging circumstances and ensure that our overall objective of imparting the best of 21st century learning continues in every way we can”, stressed Saamuel.

These new announced measures are over and above the previous decisions by the Board to support parents. Earlier this month, the Board had already announced the postponement of fee hike until the end of July 2020.

Parents were also offered monthly mode of payment instead of the quarterly model previously followed. Most schools had also been offering concessions on a case-to-case basis, depending on the financial condition of the applicants.

Most importantly, all the Indian Schools in Oman have begun online lessons for their students across the nation, in compliance with the directives of the Ministry of Education of the Sultanate and the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), India, to upkeep the student learning during this suspension period and thereby ensures continued learning, regardless of the adverse circumstances.