At least two schools in the city have reduced their admission fees for pre-primary classes and a few others are giving the option of paying in instalments, moves they hope will encourage more parents to apply for their children’s admission.
Nursery admissions have taken a hit across schools. The head of one school said the situation this year was worse than 2020.
The Kolkata branch of St Augustine’s Day School has reduced the amount payable at the time of admission for pre-primary by nearly half — from Rs 88,000 to Rs 50,000.
Gems Akademia International School, which had reduced its admission fee to Rs 35,000 from Rs 50,000 last year, is continuing with the revised fee.
A CBSE school in the city has reduced its admission fee by Rs 20,000 for pre-primary classes.
“We had a meeting today and decided to reduce the fee at the entry-level. Many parents had been asking about the fee structure and we presume that once they see the revised fee, they will be encouraged to apply. We hope it will boost our admissions,” said Richard Gasper, principal, St Augustine’s Day School, Kolkata branch.
Gasper said admissions had been slow because of the pandemic and not all seats at the pre-primary level had filled last year. “We decided to reduce the fee so that parents can afford it and we also get the numbers,” he said.
The Telegraph had reported in August that the number of applications for admission to Nursery in many schools was much lower than what it used to be.
“One of the factors stopping parents is the high fee structure compared to pre-schools. Particularly in an online situation, we are forced to have limited classes in a day and many parents feel it is not worthwhile to admit children to a high school,” said the head of the CBSE school, requesting anonymity.
A few schools are offering parents the option of paying in instalments, something that was unheard of earlier, barring exceptional cases.
Vivekananda Mission School, for example, has given parents the option of paying the Rs 50,000 admission fee in two instalments. “This will give parents time to pay and they can spread it over a few months. But even after parents are availing themselves of the instalment facility, they are asking for extension of dates, which is increasing the number of instalments. This facility will hopefully ease the burden and parents will be encouraged to apply,” said Arnab Chandra, the rector of the school.
The heads of at least two schools said the situation had worsened this year.
“If there is no concrete plan to reopen schools, parents will not be keen to admit their children,” said Chandra.
MP Birla Higher Secondary School and Julien Day School Kalyani are offering the instalment option to parents on request.
A school head said parents were also weighing the option of keeping the child at home for pre-primary and admitting them to school only in Class I.
“They are thinking that in absence of physical classes, they can continue to teach the children at home. We have not reduced the fee but are following the fee structure of 2019 and are offering instalments to parents who are making requests,” said S.K. Singh, general manager, MP Birla Higher Secondary School.