A father who is a middle-level employee at a hotel in Calcutta and has suffered a pay cut during the Covid pandemic has not opted for a 20 per cent waiver of tuition and session fees for his daughter, a student of Class V.

A single mother of a Class III student has written to the principal saying she would not take the concession though running the family had become difficult because of the pandemic.

A number of schools have told The Telegraph that there were some such parents who had not availed themselves of the tuition and session fee waiver, which the high court has made them entitled to, despite the pandemic-induced crisis.

The high court had in October ordered private schools to waive 20 per cent of tuition and session fees and not charge any fees on non-academic heads such as “laboratory, craft, sporting facilities or extracurricular activities or the like” between April 2020 and one month after the resumption of on-campus classes.

Not all such parents who have been paying the full fees are “highly placed” in their profession and have their share of financial responsibilities and difficulties, one principal said.

“We will acknowledge the parents who have stood by us. We talk about the school as a family and there are parents who have shown that solidarity. We understand that there are parents who have financial difficulties and it is acceptable that they are seeking the concession,” said Basanti Biswas, the principal of Calcutta Girls’ High School.

“I have not suffered any pay cut. Why should I deprive the school and perhaps the teachers by not paying the fee?” asked a father whose son is in the primary section of a private school in south Calcutta.

“I will effectively be saving Rs 10,000 in some months if I avail myself of the concession, but I have been saving on travel and other expenses because of the pandemic. So, I can pay the full fees,” the father said.

Among the parents who are paying the full fees is Madhav Prasad Roy, a retired school teacher whose only source of sustenance is his pension.

“I have paid because my funds permitted and I also understand the kind of expenses the school has to incur for smooth functioning. If by paying about a thousand more I can stand by the school, then why not?” said Roy, the only earning member of the family, whose daughter is in Class XII.

A mother has written to the principal of a school in Alipore, saying she would like to pay the full fees because she thought what the institution was doing during the pandemic was sufficient to warrant the fees.

“The percentage of parents not taking the waiver is small. But they are contributing to the school. In fact one of them said he thought it was his duty to help the teachers who might have to bear the brunt of non-payment of fees,” said Bobby Baxter, the principal of Julien Day School, Ganganagar.

The heads of two schools said they would like to believe that parents were paying the full fees to reciprocate the effort the school was making.

“We are happy that a section of parents has responded to the school’s appeal to not avail themselves of the waiver if they are not facing financial difficulties. The parent is supporting the school when the institution is in a crisis just as the school supports the parent in bringing up the child,” said Amita Prasad, the director of Indus Valley World School.