HUNDREDS of parents have signed an online petition calling for private school fees to be slashed in half following the suspension of classes as part of precautionary measures to limit the spread of Covid-19, writes the GDN's Reem Al Daaysi.

The petition, launched by parents of students in various private schools and special needs schools, suggested that parents and schools each shoulder 50 per cent of the fees.

Parents said children were not learning in the usual manner and with the same intensity as in school, while online and remote learning was a relatively new experience in Bahrain’s education system.

“The house environment and set-up for most families is not ideal and not conducive to receiving the information in a proper manner,” read the petition, ‘Reduced School Fees during Corona Crisis!’, on www.avaaz.org.

“What is achieved in a home setting is a far from ideal representation of what is achieved in the classroom setting.

“We hence propose that the parents pay only 50pc of the fees during the school closure time – this is fair as it’s not the schools’ fault that they are closed but it’s also not the fault of us parents.”

The GDN previously reported that parents have welcomed a proposal by veteran MP Adel Al Asoomi to slash kindergarten and private school fees by 65 per cent.

He said charging 35 per cent of the fees was reasonable for schools and kindergartens to cover their necessary expenses as operational costs will be reduced with children not attending schools, while remote learning was adding to parents’ burden.

A BD4.3 billion economic package was launched by the government to offset the impact of Covid-19, including a waiver on electricity and water bills for all accounts as well as an urgent legislation to withdraw money from the Unemployment Fund to pay for the wages of Bahrainis in the private sector for the next three months.

Mr Al Asoomi claimed that 'certain private schools were taking advantage of the crisis to turn a profit'.

“We are the first GCC country to have had a formal education system; we are pioneers in the field but unfortunately what we are seeing in these extraordinary times is pure greed from some private schools,” he said.

“They are unfortunately taking advantage of the crisis to turn a profit as if the sole purpose of schools is to make a profit and not the noble cause of education and children’s development.

“The government has waived electricity and water bills on all accounts so this is unprecedented greed and just a desire to make a profit.

“This crisis has exposed a lot of issues in the educational sector and the Education Ministry has to take a serious stand as we won’t accept education in Bahrain to be turned into a greedy commercial profit-making industry.”

He urged the Education Ministry to take a serious stand against greed, adding that the ministry needs to step in and fairly split the financial burden between the parents and the schools.

Ministry officials were unavailable for comment.