Coimbatore: As schools are getting ready to reopen, complaints of exorbitant fees have started pouring in, say school education officials.
Recently, a knitwear businessman, whose children are studying at a private school at Peelamedu had filed a complaint to the inspector of matriculation schools, saying the school had demanded almost three times the stipulated fees. He said as per the private schools fee determination committee’s order, the school should collect around Rs 13,000 for Class III and around Rs 15,000 for Class VI. “But they demanded Rs 55,000 for my son to Class VI and Rs 53,000 for my daughter to Class III,” he said.
The parent said though he said that he had faced a severe loss in his business and couldn’t afford to pay the fee, the school did not relent. “The school initially asked me to pay the fee in one shot. After I explained my situation, all that the school did was to ask me pay the fees in two instalments,” he said.
Like him, many other parents whose children are studying in private schools say the schools have been demanding exorbitant fees. “While the term fees is just Rs 7,000, the school has added extra elements such as stationery and extracurricular activities and hiked it to Rs 15,000,” said another parent.
When contacted, inspector of matriculation schools R Geetha said the department had already received quite a few complaints against private schools for demanding exorbitant fees. “While schools can collect tuition fee and the amount for uniforms and stationery as stipulated, some schools collect extra amount under provisions such as extracurricular activities. This is decided by the school correspondents,” said Geetha.
She said the department had asked the schools to discuss with students and parents whether extracurricular activities are needed for the children and then fix the fees. “This would bring down the fees significantly,” she said. She added that the department would inquire into the complaints in the coming week. “If there are several complaints against a school, we would visit the school to inquire. If there are complaints against a few schools, we would call them and hold a meeting,” she said.
However, representatives of private schools denied the allegations. R Visalakshi, president of Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association, said schools had upgraded several facilities, which justify the fee they demand. She added that fee structure for several private schools for the coming year has not been announced even four months after the schools had applied for it. “Which fee structure these schools supposed to follow,” she said.