CHENNAI: A Class III student of a leading CBSE school in the city was pulled out from the classroom and sent home after his father refused to pay the excess fee allegedly demanded by the management, and led the protests against it.
“After cornering my child for months together, a non-teaching staff dropped my son at home on Tuesday and informed us that he can’t attend classes until I paid the fees demanded by the school management,” the father told Express.
It was after much struggle, Anand (name changed), a resident of Ramapuram, managed to admit his son in Narayana e-Techno School in the same area.
The parents complained that the institution demanded fee more than what was stipulated by the Justice Singaravelu Private School Fee Determination Committee and was not ready to provide the fee breakup as promised.
Disappointed over this, Anand along with few other parents protested against the increase in fee during the subsequent academic year (2015-16). Following this, a meeting was organised where infrastructural woes, academic and admission-related issues were discussed.
“The management gave it in writing (copy of which is available with Express) that classrooms with asbestos roof will not be used, and that issues like poor English communication skills, fire safety drills etc would be taken up seriously,” he added.
“But the school did not fulfil these and continued to demand fee without giving any breakup. When I refused to pay this, my son was targeted,” he added.
Though it is mandatory for all schools in Tamil Nadu to collect fees only as per the Singaravelu committee, the school in a written reply claimed that it was not applicable for them.
When contacted, principal Masthan said he was on deputation and only the school’s DGM Pusphalatha could comment regarding this. However, she was unavailable for comments despite repeated attempts.
Educationists said by not allowing a child between the age group 6 to 14 for any reason was a violation of the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 (Section 15 and 17).
Educationist Prince Gajendra Babu said, “The school has violated section 9 (e) of RTE Act by not allowing a child between age 6-14 to attend school without informing the concerned local authorities (Director of Matriculation Schools or the CBSE Regional Director).”
The parent has filed a complaint with the Director of School Education and Singaravelu Committee over this incident on Tuesday.