TN to launch portal to make pvt school fee public

The Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fees) Act was enacted to regulate the fee collection and to curtail exorbitant fees and donation demanded by the private self-financing schools. For this, the Private Schools Fee Determination Committee was alsoconstituted.

The process of fixing fees for about 10,200 private schools for the next three years has begun. So far, the Committee has fixed the fee for about 7,800 schools. Despite a specific fee structure being fixed for these schools, the public are unaware of this as it is not published for public view.

Using this confusion, many private schools allegedly collected fee in excess of what has been prescribed during this academic year, burdening the parents.

A senior official from the Directorate of School Education told DT Next that following the recent court order, the government has decided to upload the fees structure of all private schools on a web portal, through which the public can access the fee details of all privateinstitutions.

According to the official, the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) would be entrusted with the task to creating the website, which would also have all the details of the schools apart from the fee structure.

“Parents from across the State can view the information through search option,” he said adding that the website would also have a separate option for the public to lodge complaint about any school that collects excess fees. “They will also have the option to take printouts of the fees structure, which can act as a documentary proof,”he said.

According to the official, the fee committee would be actively involved in disposing of online petitions regarding excess collection of fees.

“If the complaints are found to be genuine, the committee will issue order to the particular school to refund money that was collected in excess of the fee fixed by the authorities,” he said.

The future remains uncertain for more than 5,000 children studying in the schools in the district that were deemed unrecognised. As the admission process is almost over in most schools for this academic year, the parents of these students lament that they are unable to get admission in other schools.

Last week, Chennai Collectorate released the list of 331 schools functioning in the city without valid certification from the government. As per the Right To Education Act, all schools should obtain no-objection certificate from the government. According to the data given by the Collectorate, most of these schools are in the primary and middle school categories. Chennai Collector A Shanmugasundaram also issued an advisory to parents asking them to avoid admitting their children in such schools.

A senior official from the Directorate of School Education said that more than 5,000 students are studying in these schools that are now on the dock.

“My son is studying in Class 3 in a school in north Chennai that was declared unrecognised. Though I tried my best to put him in other schools, the admission was over. I do not know what to do now,” said C Dhanasekhar, a fruit vendor at Thambu Chetty Street in George Town.

“Though the school management promised me that it would get the required recognition certificate from the government soon, there is no clarity on this issue thus far. I am at the risk of retaining my son in the same school,” he added.

According to the official from the School Education Department, the only option available for those parents is to put their children in the nearby government school. “Admissions are still open in government schools, which have more facilities than the those unrecognised schools,” he claimed.

“If the government had prepared the list before this academic session, it would have been useful for many parents,” said P Kavitha, a parent residingin Triplicane.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Teachers Association demanded that all the students, who were studying in the unrecognised schools, should be given admission in the government schools.