There is a lot of excitement among the students to join classrooms and meet their friends as schools are reopening after two days. It is after a gap of almost two years that some of the students will be attending physical classes which were suspended due to Covid-19 pandemic situation.
However, the parents are now feeling the pinch ahead of the reopening of the schools. Most of the parents are struggling to meet the rising expenses that have come up suddenly before the start of the new academic session in several private English medium schools.
Choudhury Tapas Ranjan Samal, a self-employed professional in Cuttack said that his daughter will be attending classes in physical mode next week. However, he had to spend nearly Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 for clearing the pending school fees and purchase of new books for this session.
“Like me, a lot of parents had not paid the quarterly fees. I had to clear the dues in order to get the report card of my daughter. Apart from the dues, the cost of new books is also high this time,” said Samal.
SK Sharma, another guardian, said, “The new session is getting too expensive, especially for parents having two or more children. The entire cost they have to bear, including clearing pending school fees, buying new books, comes to around Rs 55,000 to Rs 60,000.”
Apart from the basic expenses on new text books, the parents will also have to spend more over new uniforms, school bags, tiffin boxes and water bottles as well as new shoes for their children.
“Our kids were at home for the last 2 years and their unused school uniforms, bought couple of years ago, don’t fit anymore,” said another parent.
A huge rush is now seen at the shops selling ready-made school uniforms in the Millennium City. The shop owners are seen doing brisk business ahead of the resumption of physical mode of teaching in schools.