COVID-19: Jharkhand boarding schools turn milk vendors to meet expenses

COVID-19 has changed lives and means of livelihood in more than one way. Millions were rendered jobless, while others took to a different profession with a lesser pay to sustain lives. In one such case, some of Jharkhand’s big boarding schools have been shut down because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

These institutions are facing an acute fund crunch due to their fixed monthly expenses, such as the cost of raising cows and horses, kept for milk supply and horse ride lessons to students.

Ranchi’s oldest boarding school, Vikas Vidyalaya, lost seven of its 120 cows due to the unavailability of good quality fodder during the initial days of the lockdown, according to a report in the Hindustan Times.

The school is spread over a sprawling campus of 175 acres and houses 300 students and close to 130 school staff including teachers. It has been rearing cows since its beginning about seven decades ago.

The boarding school was inaugurated by India’s first President. Rajendra Prasad, in 1952.

“Sudden lockdown brought serious problems for us. We have 120 cows that yield over 350 litres of milk daily for consumption by students and school staff. After the lockdown, we faced a serious problem of consuming milk. Also, the cost of keeping such a large number of cows is enormous,” said school principal PS Kalra as quoted by the publication.

He added, “For the initial three months, we used to make Vedic Bilona Ghee from these milk assuming that we could serve ghee to our students after reopening. It takes nearly 45-50 litres of milk to prepare one kg of ghee through this method. We sell it at the cost price of Rs 1,700 per kg.”

“But, in July, some of the school alumni persuaded us to start supplying milk in Ranchi as they themselves were ready to purchase it. It all started on July 10 and now we are supplying milk in bottles to about 70 households in Ranchi. “The milk being supplied to almost 70 customers shall continue even after the school reopens as it is a surplus of our requirements. With this, we are able to curtail our losses to some extent,” Kalra said.

Another boarding school, Taurian World School, keeps 65 cows and 15 horses. School owner Amit Bajla said, “We have 65 cows. The dairy cost is much higher. We are presently selling milk in the local market. Our horses are lying idle.” Bajla said that the school has incurred a whopping loss to the tune of Rs 15 crore in the last eight months.

“Boarding schools have a different set of problems than day schools. The number of staff in the former is three-four times higher than the latter. We have to keep the entire facility intact even when the school is closed. We can’t remove teaching and non-teaching staff. The fixed expenses are about 80-85%. The only reduction in our expenses came in the form of fuel cost and direct food cost during the lockdown,” Bajla said.

An association of 1,426 unaided private schools in Jharkhand has moved the Jharkhand high court challenging the government’s June 25 order which stated that private schools in the state were only allowed to collect tuition fee from students and instructed them not to charge other allied fees during the COVID-19 pandemic as long as schools are closed.

Citing their woes, association’s president Abhay Mishra said, “Under the garb of government’s order, about 60-70% parents had not been paying monthly tuition fee since the outbreak of the pandemic. After running the schools for about nine months since then with the previous revenue earnings, we have virtually exhausted all our funds.”

The high court has sought the state government’s reply and fixed the next date of hearing in December.