BENGALURU: Parents of schoolchildren in the city say that complaints to the helpline set up by the education department on schools violating fee collection rules are not being addressed.The state government set up two helplines and an email id so that parents could complain if schools were hiking fees or forcing them to pay fees. A parent, who requested anonymity, said he had called the helpline several times to complain about Chrysalis High which reportedly raised fees by 8-10% for the next academic year.
“The school refused to send an email about the hiked fee and insisted that since the school was closed, we must meet and talk to them in person. Multiple reminders were registered at the helpline. There has been no response from the school management about the fee hike,” he said.
Another parent whose ward studies in Sharada Vidya Mandira, Kadugodi, said he lodged a complaint on May 19. He said academic fees had been raised by 4-8%, uniform fees by 11%, and, books and stationery by 16.6%. The helpline did not even provide an acknowledgement, he said. Neither of the schools responded to queries sent by TNSE via email three days ago.
Another parent says schools are finding loopholes in the law to ensure they do not have to withdraw the hike. He said a chain of private schools were charging for online classes under miscellaneous expenses.
The helpline was unreachable on Saturday, but TNSE reported that it was receiving a huge number of calls. Reports suggest that while there are over 800 complaints against schools until Friday, just about 330 have been resolved.
Students can write SSLC exams at hometowns
SSLC students can now appear for their board exams at the nearest exam centre at their current area of residence. This, however, is applicable only for hostel inmates, wards of migrant workers, or those in resid-ential schools, who have moved back to their home-towns following the Covid-19 pandemic.
All precautions will be taken, says minister
Primary and secondary education minister Suresh Kumar said that all precautions will be taken at SSLC examination centres while conducting exams. He said that for the first time in history, students are allowed to write exams at a centre close to their native places.