“Since the beginning of June, we started offering online classes to students keeping in mind that education and learning outcomes should not suffer due to the pandemic. Our teaching staff has had to rise to the situation and learn new skills and techniques to keep students engaged and ensure learning. While our members have made concessions for parents facing financial difficulties and have approached school managements, we have observed that many parents capable of paying fees are failing to do so, which has now made us incapable of running operations,” said Shridhar Iyer, secretary of the school association. Last week, the local education department served notices to many city schools over complaints that online classes had been discontinued due to non-payment of school fee. While local education authorities threatened schools with de-recognition and cancellation of No Objection Certificate, which is mandatory for running schools in the state, the move by the private school association is being seen as a retaliation.