Now, use mobile phones to pay fees

MORE TRANSPARENCY Parents say online fees payment reduces the chances of schools charging donation or capitation fees

MUMBAI: Standing in queue to pay children’s school fees is now a thing of the past for many. In some city schools, parents can pay school fees and cafeteria bills and buy books through their mobile phones and laptops. 

Some schools have switched to online admissions in the past couple of years but candidates have not been able to pay fees online. They would have to download the application forms from the school website and submit them to the school office along with the requisite documents. Fees, however, had to be paid traditionally at the school fee counter or at the bank. 

This is changing as mobile commerce platforms and banks, realising the potential of the education sector, are tying up with city schools and colleges, making it possible for them to offer online payment facilities to parents. 

As many as 12 Delhi Public Schools, for instance, have tied up with a mobile wallet service to introduce cashless payment of fees for the coming academic year, 2016-17. The process is like an online recharge or a bill payment. 

Singapore I nter national School, Dahisar, allows students applying from outside the city or country to pay their fees online using a payment gateway provided by the school. “We get a lot of students from different parts of the country and also some international students so we have provided this facility for them to save their time,” said Sharonee Mullick, head of the school. 

Education activists welcomed the move saying it increases transparency in the process of fee payment. “If a school is asking parents to pay fees online, every transaction will be recorded, so this reduces the chances of schools charging donation or capitation fees,” said Jayant Jain, president of the Forum for Fairness in Education, a nongovernmental organisation. 

City schools said the system only to makes it easier for parents and does not make much of a difference to the school. Campion School, Fort, allows parents to pay school fees through a bank gateway, made available on the school website. However, Paul Machado, principal of the school, said the system has not made much of a difference to the school office. 

“The facility is entirely for the convenience of parents. It does not add or reduce the burden on our accounts team,” said Machado. “This way parents get the freedom to pay fees from anywhere, even use their credit cards.” 

Some school principals, however, said safety concerns and verification process are stopping schools from opting for online fee payments. 

“We have started an online application process but we are hesitant to begin online f ee payment,” said Father Francis Swamy, principal, St Mary’s School ( I CSE), Mazagaon, and joint-secretary of the Archdiocesan Board of Education that runs 150-odd schools in the city. “We spoke to some schools that allow online payment of fees but they were facing problems with the system. So we decided not to go for it.” 

Source | Hindustan Times | 6 April 2016