Parents protest exorbitant fee in Tirunelveli schools

The academic year of 2017-18 is about to begin and parents are busy in paying fees for their wards. At this juncture the common problem faced by parents is the exorbitant fees collected by the private schools. Though the fee structure has been clearly laid out by the state government, the educational institutions do not abide by the rules and collect exorbitant fees in various forms.

Activists and parents claim that there is no mechanism to check the fee collection in schools . A social activist from Tirunelveli, ‘Nellai’ Peter, said that the government had fixed Rs.3,750 for LKG but the private schools charge 10 times more in different forms. Though the bill is given for the amount fixed by the government, extra money like capitation fee and fee for extracurricular activities are collected from the parents by not issuing bills. 

This should be checked and the district administration should stop collecting extra fees from the parents demanded Peter. Similarly a parent, Karthikeyan, from Tenkasi, said that the fees structure given by the government should be displayed in front of every school and queried why officials do not stress on placing flex boards of fees structure before every school. 

He also said that he had to shell out a large amount of fees to the school in which his daughter is studying and even though several complaints were sent from Tenkasi no action was taken on the schools ,said Karthikeyan. Another lawyer, Bharathi Murugan, from Tirunelveli, said that a CBSE school functioning at Thachanallur in Tirunelveli does not have permission to run Class 11 and had even started admission for the same class. 

Already a batch of students had completed class 11 in the school and when the parents, came to know that there is no permission for it, began demanding TC for their wards. But they were threatened by the school. Action should be taken against the school and students should be given their TCs demanded Bharathi Murugan. 

When Tirunelveli Collector, M Karunakaran was asked, he said that he had received complaints about schools collecting exorbitant fees at Tenkasi. If the charges are proved, strict action including cancellation of licence to the schools would carried out, he added.