COIMBATORE: With the TVK-led government shifting private school NOC process online (from July 1) to curb corruption, many families are now demanding strict regulation on fee hikes, with several of them urging the state government to bring private CBSE schools too – just like the matriculation schools – under the purview of the fee determination committee.
P Chandran, an employee from Perungudi in Chennai, told TNIE that his son and daughter, studying in Class 2 and 4 at a private matriculation school, were charged a combined fee of Rs 70,000 last year including tuition and book fee.
“The school has increased the fee by Rs 10,000 for each child this year. When asked about it, the management said the classrooms had been upgraded to smart classrooms. We ended up paying Rs 90,000 for both children, excluding the annual transport fee of Rs 9,000. To manage the additional expenses, my wife has started working now,” he said.
He alleged, “Only last year’s tuition fee details are available on the Tamil Nadu Private Schools Fee Determination Committee website. The fee structure is not displayed at the school or on its website.”
V Kalaiarasan of Coimbatore said that his daughter studies at a matriculation school near Vedapatti on the city’s outskirts. He said the fee determination committee fixed the annual tuition fee at Rs 13,310 for Class 5.
“The school collects tuition fee in three terms, with each term fee fixed at Rs 13,500. In total, the school is collecting an excess tuition fee of Rs 27,190 in violation of norms. Besides this, we pay Rs 6,000 per term as van fee and Rs 10,000 for books, uniforms and other expenses. It feels like daylight robbery,” he said. Not only in matriculation schools, but also parents who have enrolled their children in CBSE schools are burdened by annual fee hike of at least Rs 10,000.
P Sowmiya of Puliyakulam in Coimbatore said, “Last year, I paid Rs 97,000 for my son studying in Class 7 at a CBSE school. The fee has been fixed at Rs 1.12 lakh for Class 8 this year. We pay around Rs 30,000 annually as van fee. Many middle-class families are being forced to borrow money to meet their children’s educational expenses. The government should take steps to regulate CBSE schools’ fee like matriculation schools.”
S Arumainathan, state president of the Tamil Nadu Student Parents Welfare Association, told that while the school education minister has urged schools to reduce their fee; there appears little possibility of private schools doing so on their own.
“The state government tried to regulate CBSE school fee through the Tamil Nadu Private Schools Fee Determination Committee, citing their implementation of RTE admissions.
However, a CBSE school association obtained an interim order against it from the Supreme Court in 2016. The state has failed to challenge the interim order for nearly a decade. It should immediately move to vacate the stay and bring CBSE schools under fee regulation,” he said.
K R Nandakumar, general secretary of the TN Nursery, Matriculation and CBSE Schools Association, said. “Only corporate CBSE schools collect higher fee, which creates a burden on parents.”
A school education department official told TNIE that the department had filed a counter-affidavit against the interim order and that the matter is pending before the Supreme Court. Attempts to reach School Education Minister A Rajmohan went in vain.