Tamil Nadu Schools Bars Collection Of Fees

CHENNAI, (GaeaTimes.com)- More than 500 schools, from all the district in Tamil Nadu, has been barred from collecting fees from the students. This even includes several Kendriya Vidyalayas run by the union Human Resource Development Ministry in Tamil Nadu. These schools have also been asked not to collect any fees from the students without the prior permission of the school fee determination committee.

The school fee determination committee, of the state issued a notification, wherein they said that these schools have failed to answer the questionnaire which was given to them on collection of fees from the students. The government of Tamil Nadu drafted the school fee determination committee, in order to keep a track on the fee collection procedure and create a framework of fee collections in these schools. This committee is headed by A Govindarajan, a retired district judge, to fix the fees of various schools, based on the infrastructure available in these schools. This decision was however not accepted by many of the private schools and they have appealed to the Madras High Court, to look into the matter, so that they can retain their current fee structures, irrespective of their infrastructures. However, the Madras High Court has also vacated the stay, when they were appealed by the Tamil Nadu government.

The barring of school fee collection was a result of the agitation on the part of the Federation of Tamil Nadu Students-Parents Welfare Associations, who rallied on the streets of Chennai on October 9, accusing some of the schools for violating the fees structure drafted by the Justice A Govindarajan Committee. It said that the schools should not go for a fee hike in the current academic year. However, violation of this law, prompted to the agitation, that accused the school authorities and also the government, for its failure to implement the rule properly.