Thursday, April 07, 2011

Fee case: CBSE school shuts door on 3 students.

Nalini Ravichandran; Express Buzz; Thursday, April 07, 2011,
CHENNAI: Three students of a leading CBSE school here have been struck off the rolls and were not allowed to attend classes on Wednesday. The reason: their parents decided to remit the school fee that has been fixed by the Justice Govindaraj Committee for all private unaided schools and not the fee demanded by the school, which is several times more.
Atther Ahmed is the parent waging this lone battle. He alleged that the authorities of Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School, Egmore, were not sticking to the fee structure prescribed by the government. According to a reply received from the CBSE headquarters in New Delhi following an RTI query filed by Ahmed, the CBSE schools across the country would have to follow the fee structure prescribed by the respective government. The CBSE, the reply said, was only a body that conducted exams and provided affiliation to the schools. Even last month, Vineeth Joshi, the CBSE chairman, had sent a circular stating the same.
Far from following the fee structure laid down by the Justice Govindaraj panel last year, the school was charging fees at least three times more than prescribed rate, Atther said. The annual fee fixed by the government for Class II was `3,500, for Class V `4,500 and for Class VI `5,000. However, the amount charged by the school was `9,740 for Class II, `10,140 for Class V and `11,780 for Class VI - each.
In the past few months, Atther has reportedly filed numerous complaints with various authorities but to no avail. The CBSE schools in the state refused to follow, or even acknowledge that they should follow, the fee structure prescribed by the state government.
Last month, the school had reportedly sent a notice to Atther stating that the names of his three children have been struck off the roles, and he should collect the TC. On Wednesday, the children were not even allowed to attend the classes and were asked to remain in the library, Atther said.
“I have been paying the fees prescribed by the state government. Also, as per the High Court order, the extra amount has to be deposited for the next year’s fees. I will not pay the fees they are demanding, which is at least 40 percent higher than the government prescribed rate,” he said.
Denying that the children were being penalised, the principal of the school, V Suma Padmanaban, said, “Yes, the CBSE schools have to follow the rules laid down by the state government, but we need not follow all the rules. None of the schools in the city are following the government prescribed fee structure. We will not victimise the students because of such parents.”
She added that the Justice Govindarajan Committee had stated that schools should charge fees as per the facilities they provided.
“Our parents, except Atther, are quite satisfied with the facilities we provide. We cannot follow the fee structure prescribed by the government, which is too low. The students will have to pay the fees the school demands,” she pointed out.