Shillong, Feb 16: Highlighting the sensitivity of lockdown that brought life to a standstill last year, a YouTuber, Pynshailang Lyngdoh Nongdiang who makes videos on social interest spoke about the plight of poor parents who struggled to make ends meet yet are also anxious in getting their wards’ school dues paid.

He started a youtube channel one year ago. He told reporters on Tuesday, “In one of my YouTube videos, I did speak about the problems surrounding online classes and the payment of school fees at a time when parents were without work and were financially burdened”.

After posting the video, he received messages from parents who expressed their inability to pay school fees. He said that most parents who spoke to him engaged as labourers, taxi drivers etc and find it hard to eke out a living when economic activity took a huge setback.

He felt that the government should find out ways and means to lessen the burden of parents who were told by school authorities to pay school fees. He felt that there should be clarity on the part of the government with regard to fee payment.

He said that he has met some of the school authorities in Shillong and outskirts of Shillong who refuse to reconsider despite the plight of the parents. He also claimed that most of the schools that he met are government aided schools

“It is not only the teachers suffering. The parents were out of work for months and without any work, how are parents expected to pay school fees? Some schools threaten to withhold results and promotion if school fees are not paid. If promotion depends on school fees, then there is no quality at all”, Pynshailang said.