Don Bosco School, Liluah, has decided to take only the tuition fees and forgo other charges from April to August because “we can feel the struggle many parents go through to pay the school fees”.

The school, which is run by the Salesians of Don Bosco who are part of the Catholic Church, did not attribute any reason to the timing of the decision other than citing the parents’ hardship linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Monday, the Bengal chapter of the Association of Heads of Anglo-Indian Schools in India had proposed a waiver of a part of the annual fees to give some relief to the parents.

On Tuesday, the Church of North India (CNI), a Protestant denomination, had said the association had no right to take decisions on fees — a position accepted by the association which said it had only made a proposal.

The CNI said its nine schools were pulling out of the Bengal chapter of the association. The nine schools include the La Martiniere schools and St. James’ School. The association has schools run by multiple denominations, including Catholics and Protestants.

Don Bosco School, Liluah, did not make any mention of the developments of either Monday or Tuesday while announcing on Tuesday night the relief for the parents.

In a letter addressed to parents, principal Father K.V. Mathew said: “Covid-19 pandemic has indeed affected everybody both psychologically and financially. We can feel the struggle many parents go through to pay the school fees. Hence, the management of Don Bosco School, Liluah, has decided to ask the parents to pay only the tuition fees for the months of April to August 2020.”

Father Mathew was present at the meeting of the executive committee of the Bengal chapter of the Association of Heads of Anglo-Indian Schools in India on Monday.

Don Bosco, Liluah, founded in 1937, has about 3,000 students. The school will not charge fees on heads like electricity, establishment and maintenance, library, other educational expenses (games, entertainment, assessment, unit tests), software management, computers and smart class depending on which class a student is in.

For instance, parents of students in Classes III, IV and V could save between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,100 every month and those in Classes VI, VII and VIII Rs 850 to Rs 1,100 a month for the five waiver months.

Parents who have already deposited the fees according to the old fee structure will be “refunded the extra amount once the school office starts functioning”.

Father Mathew’s letter said: “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those parents who paid the school fees on time. We could disburse the salary of our staff on time because of the support of those valuable parents.”

Some parents had written to the school requesting concessions in allied fees.

The principal has informed the parents that Don Bosco School, Liluah, has contributed Rs 2.5 lakh towards the chief minister’s relief fund through the “Salesian Province of Kolkata for Covid-19 relief work”. “The contribution is the manifestation of our concern for the people of our state…,” the letter said.