COVID-19: Private institutions and their demands for school fees
Correspondent | Wednesday April 29, 2020 12:57
They have to demonstrate to parents why they should pay school fees even though the academic calendar has been disrupted. It is likely to be lost altogether.
They should put serious reasons forward as to why students who are now sitting at home should pay school fee. It’s very clear that the mandate of the well-rounded curriculum, which includes but is not limited to, subjects, sports and extra curricular activities is no longer taking place.
They should prove why parents should pay even though students may have to repeat the academic year as things stand at the moment.
They should prove why parents should pay now while there is a good chance they are likely to pay the same amount of money or possibly more next year for the same grade.
Even if there is some sort of e-learning taking place at home to avoid the worst possible outcome of COVID-19, they have to demonstrate how that compares to conventional learning from the classroom, how that caters for sports and other extra curricular activities.
They have to demonstrate how e-learning is at equal or fair value with learning from the classroom and why parents should pay the same while the burden of supervision and monitoring of the learner now falls to them.
They also have to prove how many students have access to e-learning, how many students have access to the internet, how many students have devices compatible with e-learning? How effective is this mode if learning? How are students adapting considering this is generally new?
And how do they expect those without all the amenities or necessities of e-learning to pay school fees at all seeing as how they would have no access entirely?
Academic institutions or schools like any other business in Botswana have to prove why they are more important than the rest of the businesses in the country and why they should continue generating revenue. It's quite clear that most businesses have ceased operating through government legislation or are not classified as essential.
They should prove why a parent whose business has closed without the possibility of opening any time soon should make that sacrifice with the little they have left to pay rent, salaries and other operational expenses for the next three months.
They should prove why parents who are business owners should pay school fees instead of saving for post-COVID-19 with the hope to resuscitate their business while not making any money at all at the moment.
They should prove why an employee who is on half-salary or no salary at all during the COVID-19 pandemic should forfeit paying for the basic amenities and utilities at home that their children's survival depends on and instead pay school fees. They should prove why school fees comes first before anything else during this lockdown and State of Emergency.
Lastly, academic institutions or schools should prove why going to apply for an overdraft facility with one of the financial institutions or CEDA is not a viable option on the table, if the idea is to cover operational expenses like salaries and others common to any business.
They should prove why they have not made the concerted effort to augment funds by applying for the BURS wage subsidy fund for the next three months when it is very clear that they are eligible to apply like the rest of the businesses that are facing the full impact of COVID-19.
If the idea is business continuity, then it's quite clear that there are other options available that don't require asking parents whose businesses are not operating and parents who are on half salaries or none at all, to bear the brunt all so that academic institutions can have it easy during this difficult time for everyone.
BONE LEKGOTLE*
*Bone Prince Lekgotle is a young person in business.