: The fees fixed by the State Government’s Private Schools Fee Determination Committee for 425 schools in the district show that no self-financing school would admit a student in Lower Kindergarten (LKG) for anything less than Rs.1,430 a year though it is possible to study Classes VI and IX in a couple of schools for Rs.900 a year.
An analysis of the fees fixed by the committee for the academic year 2013-14 shows that there are 239 private nursery and primary schools (which have only up to Class V) in the district apart from 155 high and higher secondary schools that offer classes from LKG and 31 high and higher secondary schools that do not offer kindergarten classes.
Among the nursery and primary schools, the lowest fee of Rs.1,430 from students in LKG had been determined for Annai Nursery and Primary School at Kannadasan Street in Sadhasiva Nagar, while Jayland Nursery and Primary School at Jayaraj Nagar, opposite Fatima College, has been permitted to collect the highest annual fee of Rs.9,000 from each LKG student.
In the category of high and higher secondary schools, the lowest fee of Rs.1,500 from every LKG student has been fixed for ALM Matriculation School on Samattipuram Main Road in Arasaradi.
Lakshmi School at Veerapanchan has been accorded permission to collect the highest fee of Rs.18,000 from every LKG student. S.B.O.A. Matriculation Higher Secondary School at Melakuilkudi stands next with Rs.17,500.
In contrast, St.Anne’s Girls Higher Secondary School at Perungudi has been authorised to collect just Rs.900 a year from every Class IX student and Rs.1,000 per annum from every Class X student. Similarly, K.Kandasamy Kothanar High School at Anna Nagar has been permitted to collect a yearly fee of Rs.900 from Class VI students, Rs.1,100 from those joining Class VII, Rs.1,200 from Class VIII students and so on.
According to K.K.Natarajan, correspondent of Kandasamy Kothanar High School, most of his students are children of daily wage labourers for whom even Rs.900 a year is unaffordable.
When it comes to pursuing Class XII, Lucy Pery Noble Girls Special Higher Secondary School at Rachanayapuram in K.Pudur is the cheapest as it has been authorised to collect an annual fee of Rs.3,000 from every student.
The highest annual fee for Class XII — Rs.26,500 – has been fixed for S.B.O.A. Matriculation Higher Secondary School.
G.Balakrishnan, father of two schoolchildren, said the committee had been very liberal in fixing the fees as it had permitted some of the schools to collect Rs.18,000 even for LKG.
“Yet, the stark reality is that most of the schools collect double the fee fixed by the committee but issue receipts only for half the amount,” he complained.
Refuting the allegation, office-bearer of an association of private schools said parents could not expect good quality education without shelling out money.
