Madurai Chief Educational Officer R Swaminathan clarified that schools should not collect fees during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak period and it is applicable to all the schools in the state including ICSE., CBSE., IGCSE., and the likes. Tamil Nadu Government has sent circular to all Chief Educational Officers across the state, stating that schools across the state should not collect the present academic school fees and previous year dues during the time of crisis.
It is mandatory for the Chief Educational Officers to ensure whether the schools are following the norms given by the School Education Department. Though, the Government has sent circular and clearly mentioned that not to collect any kind of fees from the parent. Still, most of the schools in the district are started collecting fees from the parents in the form of book money, tuition fees, conducting online classes etc.
Speaking to Express, Sathya, parent of two school-going children said, "Both my children are studying in different renowned schools in the district. My elder son school management (CBSE)asking me to pay the school fees as monthly payment instead of paying term fees(three months once). Likewise, another child's school management (ICSE) asked me to pay Rs 36,000 as I term fees through online. At present they have charged a minimum of Rs 7000 as amenities development fees. During this lockdown period, schools are kept closed, they are just taking three hours of online classes alone. Children did not use the amenities provided in the school. When I contacted the office staff of the school, they refused to clarify me and they insisted me to pay the fees on time within the month of June", she said. M
Meenakshi, another parent whose children studying in CBSE school said that her child got admission for Class XI before the publication of results. Though her son continued his studies in the same school, school management asked her to pay Rs 1.5 lakh as Class XI total fees. While she cited the announcements and circular of the government, school management informed her it was not applicable for them because they are following CBSE syllabus. Hence, she doesn't have any other option and finally, she paid the entire fees for the academic year 2020-21, she added.
Responding to the issue, Chief Educational Officer (CEO) R Swaminathan said that the circular given from department of disaster management and it is applicable to all the schools in the district including ICSE, CBSE, IGCSE, and more. If the parents have any issues in this regard, they can complain either to the District Collector or to the District Chief Educational Officer(CEO), he said.
