Several city schools are resorting to new ways to tackle the financial crisis because of fewer people paying fees.

A school in central Calcutta had to take a loan to pay teachers and members of the non-teaching staff their salaries.

Another school has created a platform with online content that students of other schools can use and help generate revenue for the school.

A Christian missionary school in south Calcutta had to break a fixed deposit to pay members of its staff salaries.

Many schools are faced with a financial crisis as most parents haven’t paid fees in the past six months. Some have paid for a few months.

“In the initial months we used some of the reserve and after that the school had to take a loan to pay teachers and others salaries,” Perminder Dasani, the administrator of Chowringhee High School, said. “There are administrative expenses as well and till July we had sustained with the school reserve.”

So far, only 15-20 per cent of parents have paid, which is slightly better than the 5 per cent in the initial months, Dasani said.

La Maternelle High School started a digital platform, Gyaankosh, to provide online content in the form of small videos in mathematics, science and English for students of classes I-X.

“In the initial days, we saw how students of our school were struggling with online education because they did not have high-speed Net connectivity or dedicated smartphones. Teachers prepared and sent them videos,” Vandana Paul, the principal of La Maternelle, said.

“We have now come up with this idea, which will help us reach out to children with limited access to smartphones or the Net. Organisations or NGOs can avail themselves of the online content at an affordable rate. The children who can manage to get smartphones at some point of the day when their parents are at home can access these videos. It will help the school tide over this financial crisis.”

Only 22 per cent of the parents have paid so far, the head of the south Calcutta school that had to break the fixed deposit said. “The tuition fee is fixed depending on the salary of the staff. So, the entire salary liability is dependent on the tuition fee, which is very poor now. So, breaking the fixed deposit was the only option.”

In many small schools, parents are not from the high income group. But they want to send their children to private English-medium schools. Some are hawkers or app cab drivers who want their kids to learn and speak English in the hope of a better future. Their earnings have taken a hit during the pandemic.