Fee fixation for aided schools

CHENNAI: Chairman of the private school fee determination committee Justice SR Singaravelu on Tuesday said fees of those aided-schools which ran extra self-financing courses (like English medium classes charging an additional amount) would soon be regulated by the committee, which has so far prescribed fees for matriculation schools. While serious work in that direction will begin in March next, atleast 3,000 schools are likely to fall in that category, he said.Currently, the committee is  involved with determining the fees of 2,200 matriculation schools, enquiring 50 schools everyday for the same.More than 100 parents from three private schools in the city on Tuesday asked the chairperson to take action against schools which charged beyond their prescribed limit. “Those students who have refused to pay the additional fee charged by the school were not allowed to participate in zonal sports tournaments, though they emerged as successful sports students last year,” said one of the parents of Alagappa Matriculaton, Purasawalkam. Parents from Sri Sankara Vidhyalaya Matriculation in Pammal too demanded that managements of overcharging schools be imprisoned for seven years, as mentioned by the Private School Fees Regulation Act 2009, instead of merely derecognising them. At least 400 such complaints against overcharging schools are said to have been filed at the committee. “We have issued a strong-worded showcause notice to a school now asking it why we should not initiate penal action against them. The committee will devote its entire efforts towards these complaints from the next academic year,” the Justice assured.Parents of these schools, under the aegis of the Federation of Tamil Nadu Students Parents Welfare Association, asked the committee to publish on the school education department website, details of how much fees a school can charge for value-added services like transportation or smart classes.