Mother of all questions: how much is the fee?

Did you receive a WhatsApp message saying Tamil Nadu government has fixed `6,300 as the maximum fees schools can collect? It’s humbug.

CHENNAI: Did you receive a WhatsApp message saying Tamil Nadu government has fixed `6,300 as the maximum fees schools can collect? It’s humbug.

“It is fake! There is a private school fee determination committee headed by a retired judge, which fixes the fee to be collected by schools based on various facilities that were available to the students,” said a Tamil Nadu School Education department official. Rubbishing rumours, he added that fee varies from one institution to another and `6,300 was never fixed as a common fee for students in the State.  

Purported as a State Government announcement, a text message doing rounds among mobile phone users in Tamil Nadu reads that the Government has fixed the fee for students from kindergarten to Class 10 and complaints can be filed against violators in the respective district education offices or the Madras High Court.

The message goes on to add that 30 seats have been earmarked for LKG students in all schools by the Government under Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE). This was again false as RTE only reserves 25% seats to people belonging to economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups and doesn’t fix the upper ceiling to 30.

The school education department clarified that the fee structure for nearly 10,000 schools in the State was being prepared and announcement will be made soon and those willing to admit their children under RTE quota can register themselves in the online portal created for it solely by the Government recently. Nearly 34,000 students have applied for RTE seats this year in Tamil Nadu. 

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