MPs approve call to cut nursery fees during school suspension

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A call to deal with fees charged by private nurseries and kindergartens during the suspension of in-person classes passed in Parliament yesterday.

MPs urged the government to step in after parents were charged the same sums despite a sharp change in the teaching children were getting.

The urgent proposal asks the government to regulate fees during the period of suspended classroom study.

Money

It says money already paid should either be carried over to the next term, counted towards later in-person classes, or offset through a clear scheme to repay parents for the gap between classroom teaching and remote learning.

It also asks for help for teaching and administrative staff during the suspension period through support schemes or partial aid to keep them in work and keep the schools open.

The proposal was put forward by Dr Muneer Seroor, Lulwa Al Rumaihi, Basema Mubarak, Ahmed Al Salloom and Mohammed Salman Al Ahmed.

Speaking to Parliament, Dr Seroor said: “In light of the exceptional circumstances that led to the suspension of in-person classes and the shift to remote learning, a real problem has emerged in relation to the fees of private nurseries and kindergartens, as fees continued to be collected at the same cost despite a fundamental difference in the nature of the service being provided.”

Contact

He said early years teaching rested on face-to-face contact in a way that remote learning could not match.

“Early childhood education depends in the first place on direct interaction and on acquiring sensory, social and behavioural skills,” he said. “These are elements that cannot be achieved through remote learning in an adequate way, which creates a clear gap between the value of the fees paid and the level of service actually provided.”