Parents of students of Chinmaya Vidyalaya schools at R.S. Puram and Vadavalli in the city has come out in the open alleging that the school authorities have refused to accept the fee structure set by the Private Schools Fee Determination Committee and was collecting excess amount.
The parents' association had submitted their second letter to the Inspector of Matriculation School (IMS), R. Gunasekaran, on November 15, seeking his intervention in solving the matter. A letter was also sent to the Chief Minister's office, an association member said.
But, the school authorities refuted these charges. They, however, said the fee prescribed by the Government-appointed committee was inadequate to meet the expenses of running the institution. G. Venugopal, school correspondent, said that the management had appealed to the committee to reconsider the fee structure last year itself.
The school's name was not included in the list of schools that had appealed against the fee structure prescribed by the committee. All the 75 schools whose names had not appeared in the list were called for a hearing in Chennai. The school authorities said they could take a decision on this only after the meeting. Parents alleged that the school authorities did not address them directly during the meeting. A representative, who did not even explain his role in the managing board, spoke to them, the parents complained.
Around Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 13,900 was charged apart from the fee prescribed by the government committee, from around 900 students studying in Pre-K.G. to Plus-Two, according to the association.
The parents alleged that they agreed to pay an amount of Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 2,500 to cover extra expenses. But, the management wanted them to pay the amount it wanted, without informing what it would be used for.
According to the IMS, all schools in the State had to follow the fee structure set by the committee.
“I had received their compliant and based on that a meeting with the management and parents were scheduled on November 18.”
If the IMS found the complaint raised by the parents to be true, the matter had to be brought to the notice of Director of Matriculation Schools, he said.
Chief Education Officer N. Anandhi said that this year she had not received complaints against any school.
