The heads of Anglo-Indian schools on Monday decided to waive a part of annual fees to give some relief to parents at a time the economy has gone into a slump because of the pandemic, but no discount will be given on monthly tuition fees.

The annual charges are linked to computers, library, internet, sports, co-curricular activities, electricity and session fees, the principal of an Anglo-Indian school said.

The governing boards of the schools will decide which fees can be waived.

The twin decisions on the annual and monthly fees were taken at a meeting of the executive committee of the Bengal chapter of the Association of Heads of Anglo-Indian Schools in India on Monday.

The association met at St James’ School to discuss the “financial crisis” the 60-odd Anglo-Indian schools in Bengal were facing because of “non-payment of students’ fees by parents since April”.

The heads are opposed to any relaxation on monthly tuition fees as 90 per cent of the fees are spent on paying salaries to teachers and other employees, the principal of a school said.

The rest is spent on daily running of the institutions.

The La Martiniere schools, St James’, Pratt Memorial, St Xavier’s, Calcutta Boys, Calcutta Girls, Loyola High, St Thomas’ schools, Welland Gouldsmith and Loreto are some of the Anglo-Indian institutions in Calcutta.

A principal said after the meeting that many guardians could be going through a difficult time because of an overall slump in the economy caused by the lockdown.

“The schools are ready to sympathetically consider the difficulties of the parents…. We have not hiked the fees this year.... Late fees are not being charged…. We have not forced any parent to pay the fees…. We will not charge the annual fees as much as possible…. But waiving off the monthly tuition fees is not possible…. There are two components in our fees, monthly and annual. The schools cannot run if parents don’t pay the tuition fees,” said a principal.

The heads of several non-Anglo-Indian private schools have recently complained to the state government that they were facing financial constraints because 60 to 80 per cent of the parents had not paid fees since April.

Principals who attended Monday’s meeting expressed concern over non-payment of fees. “We don’t get any financial help from the government. We are entirely dependent on our tuition fees to pay our teachers,” said a principal who attended the meeting.