Tirupur: A social activist, along with his five-year-old son, staged a protest in front of a private school in the city on Tuesday alleging that the school management had demanded fees for books and training in other extra-curricular activities while his son was admitted under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. A school official, however, denied the charges.
“I put my son in LKG and UKG in a private school on Angeripalayam Road under 25% free education quota under the RTE Act. This year, he was promoted to Class I. When I went to drop my son to the school on Tuesday, its management restricted my son’s entry and asked me to pay 20,000 towards the expenses of books and extra-curricular activities coaching provided in the past two years,” said A Palani Kumar.
“Under RTE free education, students need not pay anything, but they should be provided quality education on par with that of the self-finance students,” he said.
A school official said they hadn’t asked Palani Kumar to pay any fee for the coaching provided in the past two years and that he was creating problem by instigating parents of other students to rebel against the school management. “Hence, we demanded fees beyond RTE free education tariff, under which only tuition fee is exempted.”
When contacted, district chief educational officer S Shanthi said as per the RTE Act, government would reimburse only the tuition fees. “Other fees should be paid by the parents. The school management did not violate the rules in this case,” the officer said.