CHENNAI: Parents want the government to empower the Private Schools Fee Determination Committee to receive and act on anonymous complaints related to schools demanding fees higher than that stipulated. The committee is a standing quasi-judicial body, which can receive only signed petitions from parents.
As a result, parents scared of facing backlash hesitate to file a complaint, even if they are asked to pay more. One such parent, Arumugam, approached the panel with the fee deposit receipt of his ward’s school. The institution had been charging Rs 15,000 over stipulated amount per year, he claimed. “I provided a copy of the receipt and the school circular to the panel, with a request to black out my child’s name to protect her identity. However, they refused to do so, and a complaint was not filed,” he added.
T Kumaran, another parent from Chennai, said that they must be able to seek justice for their children while still protecting their identity. The fee determination committee, however, does not have the authority to act on anonymous complaints or take suo-moto cognizance on matters. “The Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act, 2009 (Tamil Nadu Act 22 of 2009) does not have the provision that allows it to act on anonymous complaints,” a Justice TV Masilamani, the chairman of the committee and a retired High Court Judge told Express.
“Like any other standing committee, it can only act on signed complaints. We hear both the petitioner and the respondent and rule accordingly,” he said. A senior officer from the committee said that he has refused to take many complaints because the complainant wanted to hide their identity.
The Tamil Nadu State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), for example has received a total of 425 complaints against various schools since 2017, most of which were anonymous. Of the total, 298 were in relation to the implementation of Right to Education (RTE) Act across the State, said MP Nirmala, Chairperson, SCPCR explaining that many complaints were related to, “schools over-charging fees over stipulated value, denial of hall tickets of certificates because of fee payment due.”
She said that schools still continue to demand fee from students admitted under the RTE Act if the government has not disbursed funds. “They promise students that they will refund the money once the government gives it,” she said.
The SCPCR however, can only forward the complaints to the school education department and the fee determination committee. Nirmala said that many parents come forward to complaint only because of the provision of anonymity. Further, the fee determination committee can also determine fees for a school, only if a school appears in front of the committee as demanded by the The Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act, 2009.
The committee has fixed the fee for only about 15,000 schools in the State providing scope for thousands of private schools to exploit parents. Justice Chandru, a former judge of the Madras High Court, said that while the committee cannot assume any power not specified by the Act and act on its own will, it can, “determine fees for a school based on available information or reject all fees collected by schools that have not appeared before the committee.”
He further added that empowering the fee determination committee through legislation to receive anonymous complaints will only translate to limited change, however, strengthening a separate enforcement team, which can hold schools accountable even through anonymous complaints, will be more efficient, he said. (Names of parents have been changed to protect identity)