MUSCAT: In order to reduce the financial burden on parents due to coronavirus impact, the Board of Directors of Indian Schools in Oman have informed that the all Indian schools in the country will be collecting only tuition fee from May 2020 to August 2020.

In a decision taken by the BOD on Thursday, students shall be exempted from payment of all other non- tuition related fees during this period of four months.

According to the BOD, for the students who have already remitted the fee (other than the tuition fee) for the period from May 2020 -August 2020, the additional amount paid shall be adjusted in the fee for the following months.

In another major decision, the BOD has decided to give a 50% concession on the tuition fee until the end of the academic term 2020-2021 for any member of the Indian school family – parents or students contract the SARS CoV-2 infection and become Covid-19 positive.

The BOD has also allowed students 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. 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”, explained Dr. Baby Sam Saamuel, Chairman, Indian School Board.

“However, as unaided community schools, we depend on the revenues from fees for the sustainability of the schools. While we reiterate our support to parents & students, we would like to highlight that the schools too have been drastically impacted by the pandemic. We seek the support of community & 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 Dr. Baby Sam 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,” Babysam added.