Teachers at government high and higher secondary schools across Tamil Nadu have demanded that the school education department completely stop charging students for question paper fees. The cost of the question paper varies in each district, according to sources in the school education department. For instance, in Coimbatore district, annual fees for students in Classes VI through XII range from Rs 45 to 95. In the Salem district, fees range from Rs 20 to 30, which is collected from the students.
"The school education department claimed that headmasters should not collect any fee from the students apart from the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) fee of Rs 50 per year. At the same time, district-level exam committees that frame the question paper at the district level collect question paper fee from students through the headmasters,” informed a source, as reported by The New Indian Express.
A graduate teacher from a government school in Coimbatore told The New Indian Express, "In the beginning of the academic year, we collect the PTA fee of Rs 50 from each student. On this, every school is giving Rs 1,500 to the school education department as PTA fund. We are using the remaining fund for school maintenance for the whole academic year. With this situation, collecting question paper fees from students is unnecessary. It will create a burden on the students. Sometimes, teachers pay the fee to the committee. Instead of this, the school education department can use the PTA fund to provide question papers to schools through district committees.”
Palli Kalvi Paathukappu Iyakkam (school education security movement) District Coordinator P Chandrasekar told The New Indian Express, "The school education department needs to give clarity whether schools can collect question paper fee from students or not as it saying that it gives education free of cost to the students. At the same time, it collects question paper fees.” He pointed out numerous instances in which the Department of Education's order stated that, apart from PTA dues, headmasters should not charge students attending government schools.
A chief education officer, on the condition of anonymity, said, "Different amounts for question paper fees are collected in all districts as per the school education department top officers' direction." Repeated attempts to reach school education department commissioner R Nandakumar were in vain, as reported by The New Indian Express.
