The Times of India: Madurai: Tuesday, June 19, 2012.
Aided schools in the district have been accused by parents of collecting exorbitant fees, disregarding the amount fixed by the state government. S Sivakumar and C Sethuraman from Tiruparankundram submitted two petitions to district collector, Anshul Mishra on the public grievance day meeting on Monday. They stated that St Charles Girls Higher Secondary School in Tiruvalluvar Nagar and Harveypatti High School in Harveypatti where their wards are studying, collected exorbitant fees.
The parents mentioned that as per government norms, aided schools have to collect Rs 50 for the Tamil medium and Rs 250 for the English medium. However, St Charles School claimed Rs 3,500 from Sivakumar for his daughter studying in the eighth standard in the English medium while the Harveypatti High School demanded Rs 7,000 each from Sivakumar and Sethuraman for their sons studying in the seventh and ninth standards respectively. The parents pleaded the intervention of the district administration stating that they were unable to pay the huge amount as they came from poor backgrounds.
Talking to media persons after submitting the petitions, Sivakumar and Sethuraman said that the schools were collecting these fees without any receipts. "When we pointed out the government stipulated fees, the school authorities asked us to withdraw our children from the schools and admit them somewhere else," they said. Interestingly, Sivakumar had given an RTI application asking for the fee structure in St Charles School last year. The school in a letter dated July 25, 2011 had responded that it collects Rs 50 for Tamil medium and Rs 250 to 350 for the English medium.
Upon receiving the petition from the parents, the district collector ordered an enquiry by the education officials. "The schools are supposed to collect fees specified by the government and action will be taken on those collecting higher fees. I have asked the chief education officer to conduct an enquiry," district collector, Anshul Mishra said. When contacted, school sources said that the fees collected covered various facilities in the school and not just the tuition fees.
Many aided schools collect some money from the parents since they are not able to cope with the nominal fee fixed by the government. "The government allows collecting Rs 50 as the Parents-Teachers Fund for Tamil medium. Most aided schools have an enormous strength of students. We have to appoint additional teachers paid by the management since the government does not provide sufficient number of teaching staff and other staff for the aided schools," a headmaster of an aided school who sought anonymity said. Many aided school authorities also pointed out that government funding is very minimal. They had to manage the cost on infrastructure, basic amenities and other facilities for the students besides the salaries for the management appointed teaching staff. "Salary for the management staff is a huge burden on aided schools and if the government comes forward to appoint sufficient number of teachers for the aided schools, we can manage with the nominal fees fixed by the government," an aided school correspondent stated.