A private boarding school near Jangipur in Murshidabad has extended a helping hand to the guardians of 467 students, setting a heartening example during the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The Guidance Academy at Talai village announced waiver of Rs 2,000 in the school fees of all students for April.

The coeducational Bengali-medium school is affiliated to the state’s secondary and higher secondary examination boards and has classes from V to XII.

“Our fees range between Rs 4,900 and Rs 6,000 for tuition and boarding,” said a school administrator, adding that additional Rs 200 mitigation had been announced for students of the higher secondary science stream.

“When the school called me earlier this week, I thought they would give us some bad news. But I was not expecting this at all,” said Shahalam Sheikh, 45, a businessman whose daughter Shahina studies in the Class XII Science stream.

“Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that they wanted me to pay Rs 2,200 less for April,” Sheikh added.

School officials said they had telephoned guardians of their wards between April 28 and 30, informing them of the mitigation.

“The lockdown has caused economic distress for many. We assessed the situation and saw that we could manage to do this. So, we felt it is our duty,” said Elimur Rahman, secretary of the school’s managing committee. “A positive gesture is required in such times.” Elimur suggested that the school would consider a similar step for May if the lockdown were to be fully extended.

State education minister Partha Chatterjee — who had appealed to private schools last month not to hike fees in order to meet lockdown shortfalls — welcomed the Guidance Academy’ gesture. “I have been reiterating since March that this is going to be a bad time for the people. So I welcome the Guidance Academy’s initiative to help its wards and parents. It is a good gesture.”