A number of students whose education depends on donations as their parents are too poor to afford their studies have quit school or are on the verge of doing so as many sponsors have withdrawn support during the Covid pandemic.

Some of the schools have extended a helping hand by offering concessions but are not sure how long they can do so.

The heads of two schools said they had approached other sponsors but the response had not been encouraging.

About 50 students from Nursery to Class X at a private school in the city were dependent on sponsors. “With contributions drying up, some had dropped out,” a school official said.

At another school, of the 25 students who were being supported, the donations for 15 have remained uninterrupted. The school had to offer concessions to the other 10, an official said.

In most cases, sponsors help by paying tuition fees and for books, exercise books, stationery and data recharge.

“Some of the sponsors have withdrawn support and so naturally the education of children has been impacted. Some of the students have gone back to their native place and have no contact with the school. There are some who still show some drive. The school lets them continue regardless of whether they have paid their fees or not,” said Sadaf Hashmi, school coordinator at St Stephen's School in central Calcutta.

“We had a strength of 700 students before the pandemic. That has come down to 400…,” she said.

The parents are masons or daily wage earners. They are not in a position to provide an extra Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 for their daughters’ education

A headmistress

At Krishnachandrapur High School in Mathurapur, in South 24-Parganas, about 70 children were studying with help from sponsors before the pandemic. A section of them has since dropped out as help has been withdrawn, said headmaster Chandan Maity.

“Individuals as well as organisations used to contribute. Thanks to their support, the students could buy books and stay in the hostel,” Maity said.

The headmistress of a madarsa in Murshidabad said tuition became more necessary during the pandemic, which has shut down classrooms, for her students because there is none at home to help them with studies.

“A few of my students got Rs 500 to Rs 600 a month to pay for the tuition and to buy books. We tried to arrange funds for them, but several times of late they did not get any help,” said Murshida Khatun, the headmistress of Debkunda Sk. Abdur Razzak Memorial Girls High Madarsah.

“The parents of the girls are masons or daily wage earners. They are not in a position to provide an extra Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 for their daughters’ education. But we cannot keep approaching the supporters because we understand many of them have their own limitations now,” said Khatun.

Just before the lockdown was announced last year, she said, a sponsor in Bangalore had asked for a list of 25 girls whom they would like to support. “They never got back,” she said.

“The number of supporters has reduced. At the beginning of the session, we wrote to all our supporters but most of them did not respond.

We cannot keep asking because we understand the strained condition everyone is in,” said Harshita Dasani, principal, Chowringhee High School.

Dasani said three parents had wanted to withdraw their children, one of whom is in Class X, from school.

“We retained them by giving them a 50 per cent concession on fees and convinced the parents to pay the rest.

But it is a strain on the school funds because there are many other parents who do not pay the fees,” said Dasani.