Relief for parents as many schools give fee concession

Relief for parents as many schools give fee concession

AnanthaNarayanan.K@timesgroup.com

Kochi:10.06.2020

After the decision to drop fee hikes in the new academic year, many city schools are now taking initiatives to give fee concessions to ease the financial burden of parents amid lockdown.

Besides the waiver on computer fee, lab fee and bus fee, some schools have even cut the one-time annual fee by up to 50%. Also, a few schools have reduced the term fees by up to 10% in addition to allow parents to remit the fees in extra instalments. Moreover, a few school managements have empowered the principals to grant extension of fee payment deadline and also allow additional concession in tuition fee to needy parents, who have valid reasons.

Earlier most schools informed parents that there would not be a fee hike in the new academic year considering humanitarian concerns so that it would not be an overburden for parents who could be struggling with their jobs. Schools are planning to compensate the deficit in their revenue by cutting operational cost to balance financial security.

Schools which initiated such measures include schools run by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Kochi Kendra), Global Public School, Rajagiri Public School, Toc H Public School, Al Ameen International Public School, Gregorian Public School, Assisi Vidyanikethan among others. All these schools have given the option for parents to ask for extension of deadline.

While Toc H reduced the annual fee by 40%, Global Public School has reduced it by 25%. In Gregorian, 50% of annual fee has been waived off for all classes. All those who have paid annual payments can get it deducted during next term fees. All schools have decided not to charge bus fee till schools reopen.

“Bhavan’s schools have increased the number of instalments to five from three. Also, parents who want additional relaxations or extension in deadline can personally approach the principals of respective schools,” said E Ramankutty, director of Bhavan’s Kochi Kendra.

Juby Paul, principal of Toc H, said the school has withdrawn fee hikes implemented before the lockdown. “Around 4% to 6% of fee hike was announced earlier but has been withdrawn due to the pandemic. Regarding the concessions, there will be a reduction of around Rs.7000 on an average,” he said.

T P M Ibrahim Khan, president of Kerala CBSE schools management association, said the decision may affect schools’ revenue considering the rising expenditure and teachers’ salary increment. “But in this present situation, it is ideal to reduce the fee and the decision is at the discretion of each school management,” he said.

A few schools have reduced the term fees by up to 10% in addition to allow parents to remit the fees in extra instalments

Ward boy held for blackmailing nurse

Ward boy held for blackmailing nurse

Sushil.Rao@timesgroup.com

10.06.2020

Hyderabad: A youth from Warangal was arrested for allegedly stalking a nurse, blackmailing her and demanding that she send her nude photograph to him.

Nalgonda police arrested the accused, a ward boy who created a fake Facebook account on her name and befriended her friends too. The nurse, a native of Khammam district and was providing home care to a patient in Nalgonda.

“The victim was on the verge of committing suicide because of the harassment. Before she could take the extreme step, she sent a WhatsApp message to SHE Teams, who acted quickly on her complaint. As she gave the mobile number of her harasser, he was traced in Nalgonda,” Nalgonda superintendent of police (SP) A V Ranganath said on Tuesday.

The accused hails from Chennaraopeta Warangal was working as a ward boy for a home care giving organisation at Addagutta in Secunderabad and came in contact with nurses. He would take their numbers and also of their friends to contact them.

In the case of the girl, he first sent her a WhatsApp message saying that she should call back and there would be a surprise in store for her. The nurse ignored the message as it was from an unknown person. After repeated requests, he himself made a WhatsApp video call.

According to the SP, the man showed himself nude in the video call even as the shocked girl disconnected the call. He saved a video and threatened her that he would circulate the video of she looking at him nude.

Police, said there were several other cases against as the accused as he had resorted to the same modus operandi with about 30 other girls too.

However, many did not come forward to lodge a complaint. Those instances would also be probed and he would be prosecuted, the SP added

City homes struggling to find tenants

City homes struggling to find tenants

Sudipta.Sengupta@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:10.06.2020

Homes in the city are having a tough time finding takers, according to property brokers. They say that the flood of enquiries during what is usually their peak season — April to June — has been reduced to a trickle due to the coronavirus pandemic. Complicating matters further is the return of the city’s sizeable migrant workforce to their native places which have led many properties to put up their ‘to-let’ boards.

“Our business is down to just 10% of what we otherwise register during this time,” said Rizwan Khan a Begumpet-based broker. “Most hirings happen between April and June so people move to the city either to join a new job or on transfer from their old job. That is the trend. Since hirings have almost come to a halt due to the lockdown, it has affected us immensely,” he added.

Brokers said that while they would usually attend to as many as 40 calls per day for homes during this period, they are now receiving barely five to six calls. This has been the case for brokers even when it comes to the city’s most sought-after locations such as Madhapur, Jubilee Hills and Somajiguda.

“We are getting some local enquiries but that is limited. Most of our business usually comes from the migrant workforce,” said Mohammed Ibrahim of Ideal Homes in Jubilee Hills. In fact, many have even reduced their commission from one month’s rent to half-amonth’s rent, to lure customers. However, takers have been few and far between.

A broker who had cracked the deal for staffers at a popular city restaurant said: “The employer had rented out flats in two buildings in Kundanbagh to accommodate them. There were about a 100 people living in these houses. Now, they have vacated all but two flats as the workers have returned home. The employer was paying over ₹1lakh a month in rent.”

But will this slowdown lead to cheaper rentals? “Not really. Though some property owners are willing to offer discounts, many others are in the wait-and-watch mode. Maybe if things don’t start looking up for another few months, they will consider a cut in rents,” said Khan.

Covid-19 has had an impact on broader residential market. Rents usually go up by 3-5% per annum but the current market conditions don’t support a growth in short term given uncertainty prevailing in the job market

Veera Babu | MD, CUSHMA AND WAKEFIELD (HYDERABAD)

Inter admissions: All-pass SSC students a new challenge for BIE

Inter admissions: All-pass SSC students a new challenge for BIE

Ratio Of Students For A Seat Higher

Preeti.Biswas@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:10.06.2020

Authorities at the Telangana Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) on Tuesday said their task to accommodate seven lakh students in junior colleges will be a herculean task, specially with social distancing norms reducing the number of seats in each class by almost half.

Every year, close to five lakh students take admission in junior colleges, both government and private, but with the government deciding to promote all class X students, close to seven lakh students, including those passing out from schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council of Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (CICSE), this year, will be trying to get into junior colleges.

“We have a sanctioned strength of 8.75 lakh. However, accommodating these students, keeping in view social distancing norms, may emerge as a challenge as we may have to put a cap on the class strength the way AP government has done,” TSBIE secretary Omar Jaleel told TOI. In May, AP had issued a government order (GO) putting a cap of 40 students per class. Even TSBIE is now in the process of framing similar guidelines on accommodation of studentstion.

“Earlier, we used to sanction 88 students in each class. Now, we might have to bring it down. We are also exploring options such as introducing shifts. Second year students can attend classes in the morning shift, while the first year ones in the afternoon shift or vice versa,” Jaleel said, adding different combinations were being worked out and would be presented before the state government for a final call.

Allotment of students would also be a major challenge for TSBIE as the government has decided to promote students based on their performance in internal assessments. TSBIE fears that the ratio of students vying for a seat might be higher this year.

“If we get more applications for one seat, we will give it to meritorious students. And, if candidates score same marks, then the older candidate will be considered. We have to work out provisions for admitting students,” Jaleel added. TSBIE has also decided to expedite the admission process now, which they had earlier anticipated would commence only by August.

Dentist suffocated to death in OT; clinic staff booked for negligence

Dentist suffocated to death in OT; clinic staff booked for negligence

Kiran.Parashar@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:10.06.2020

Eighteen days after a 26-year-old dentist died in a Sarjapur Road clinic where he worked, city police on Monday booked a case of death due to negligence.

The development came in the wake of the postmortem finding that carbon monoxide, emitted by a generator in the building, could be the cause of the dentist, Dr Nithin Shetty’s death and his family members filing a police complaint.

The family members identified as suspects two individuals connected to the clinic, which is part of a large dental healthcare network in South India.

Nithin was from Mangaluru and got married on February 7. He joined the clinic at Kaikondarahalli on Sarjapur Road on May 21 but did not go to work due to the lockdown.

He resumed duty on May 20. The next day, he left for work by 9.30am. At 2.35pm, Nithin called his wife Deepthi Alva over the phone and told her that there was no electricity in the building as well as the clinic. Nithin then told his wife that he did not know where the generator was installed and that he would be calling the attender to find out where the generator switch was located, according to the complaint.

When Nithin did not respond to her calls later, Deepthi alerted her family members and friends. At 9.30pm, Nithin’s friend Dhawan went to the hospital and found that the former had collapsed in the operation theatre and was bleeding from the mouth. He was taken to Columbia Asia hospital where he was declared brought dead.

After the postmortem report suggested he suffocated to death due to carbon monoxide, Bellandur police registered a case under IPC section 304 (a) (causing death by negligence). Nithin’s family suspects he had switched on the generator and returned to the OT which had no ventilation and carbon monoxide from the generator might have filled the building, leading to his death.

Deepthi’s brother Akash filed a complaint against two clinic officials. “We’ve questioned them and sent evidence for forensic examination,” police said.

Nithin Shetty, who had gone to the clinic on May 21, called his wife to tell there was no electricity. He reportedly switched on the generator and carbon monoxide filled the building. He was found bleeeding from the mouth in the OT which had no ventilation

₹268cr in CM’s Covid relief fund lies unused

₹268cr in CM’s Covid relief fund lies unused

Kiran.Parashar@timesgroup.com

10.06.2020

Bengaluru: The state government has not utilized even a single rupee of the Rs 268 crore collected under the Chief Minister’s Covid-19 relief fund to tackle the pandemic in Karnataka, a reply to a Right To Information (RTI) query has revealed.

In response to questions raised by T Narasimha Murthy, an RTI activist, the government said that it received Rs 267,72,37,574 through donations to tackle the spread of Covid-19, but the money has been kept aside as an emergency fund. The money was donated by individuals, institutions and boards and corporations apart from others across the state between March 25 and May 19.

Murthy suggested he was flummoxed with the replying, saying, “I am unable to fathom what constitutes an emergency according to the government. We saw the plight of migrant workers, many of whom walked back to their hometowns and how they suffered. The state government could have arranged vehicles for them using this money. But it chose to save the money for reasons best known to them.”

Officials said the government expected more money to flow into the fund but that did not happen. At the same time, funds allocated to the disaster management authority and money of various departments was abundantly used to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Though the government claims that funds spent by the departments would be reimbursed from the relief fund corpus, it’s unlikely to happen given the state’s dismal financial condition.

Upgrade facilities

The chief minister’s office has a different argument. CMO officials say departments have been utilizing their funds to tackle Covid-19 and the CM’s relief fund could be utilized for other purposes.

Besides Bengaluru Urban, there are other districts like Kalaburagi, Raichur, Belagavi, Yadgir and Bidar where the number of cases has been spiking. “We want to upgrade health facilities and are coordinating with the health department to prepare a plan,” sources said.

Asked about the propriety of the departments using their funds and not the Covid-19 relief fund to battle the pandemic, the CMO said departments have used a limited part of their allocations and money from the CM’s relief fund would be released to them in the near future.

Varying corona packages lead to wrangle between insurers, hosps

Varying corona packages lead to wrangle between insurers, hosps

Rachel.Chitra@timesgroup.com

10.06.2020

With metro cities seeing an increasing number of Covid-19 patients availing treatment in private facilities, insurers and hospitals are wrangling over bills which range between Rs 1lakh and Rs 8.5 lakh.

Insurers say they do not make a judgment call on whether the patient requires hospitalisation, which increases prospects for “soft fraud” through unjustified charges. There have been over10,000 private healthcare claims. The average bill of a Covid-19 package in India is Rs 1.56 lakh so far, as per IRDAI data. Insurers say that claims range from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 8 lakh but pay only what has been agreed upon in insurance contracts with the rest borne by the insured.

“You see hospitals billing patients for sanitising equipment. Does that mean they were using unsanitised equipment earlier? With Covid-19 we are seeing hospitals billing anything and everything,” said the CEO of a private general insurance company. Insurers say that where the bill is borne by the patients, the charges are higher as there is no insurance company to negotiate.

Delhi resident Surender Gaur claims his brother’s bill of Rs 4.08 lakh had Rs 70,900 earmarked for PPEs. He alleges that his brother was billed for 22 visits by a specialist doctor as against seven visits.

Guj has lowest treatment cost for Covid-19

Chennai resident B Manikandan alleges that his father was billed Rs 4.8 lakh for Covid treatment of which Rs 75,000 was charged for a ventilator, which was never used. Insurers are also disputing add-on charges to the Covid test. The average Covid-19 claim size is highest in Kolkata (Rs 2.5 lakh per patient), followed by Delhi (Rs 2.41 lakh). Hospitals in Mumbai and Pune are reporting claims of much lower value at Rs 1.19 lakh per patient. In Surat and Ahmedabad, the average cost of Covid-19 treatment is the lowest in India at Rs 97,000.

Insurers also say that for cities like Mumbai and Chennai, initially hospitals were charging a lot but have now reduced rates due to various reasons. The Tamil Nadu government has capped daily charges at Rs 5,000 a day for Covid-19 patients, which has reduced the average claim size to Rs 1.93 lakh.