COIMBATORE: Parents of five LKG students, who were admitted in a private school at T Kottampatti in Pollachi under the Right to Education Act, alleged that they were forced to pay Rs 30,000 each as tuition fees by the school management.
However, managed refuted this by saying that the money was meant for books, uniforms and extracurricular activities. Parents filed a petition regarding this to Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati on Monday. “As per the enrollment under the Right to Education Act, school fees should not be collected. However, the school management had forced us to pay Rs 30,000 as fees. We filed a complaint with the office of the District Education Officer on May 29 demanding action. But the collected fee is yet to be returned by the school, said Kannan, one of the children’s parents.
“When we approached the DEO on July 10, he replied that they had conducted an inquiry with the school management. He said the school management had clarified that the collected fees were not tuition fees but it was for books, uniforms and extracurricular activities. However, we don’t accept this reply. The district collector should intervene in the issue and conduct an inquiry,” he added.
When contacted, S Bellraj (incharge) DEO for the private school, said, “As per the act, the only tuition fee is exempted. The school management replied that they collect Rs 60,000 in total from other students admitted to the school. Out of this, Rs 30,000 is for books, uniform and extracurricular activities,” they added