A School Education Department committee, constituted to scrutinise the claims of private schools over the fee reimbursements for students admitted under the Right To Education (RTE) Act, began visiting the schools on Monday.
Headed by Chief Educational Officer N. Arulmurugan, the committee will submit a report on the veracity of the claims made by schools after completion of the visits.
The department officials had submitted a claim for Rs. 5.69 crore for the students admitted in private schools in Coimbatore in the last two academic years.
Coimbatore district, with 275 schools, has the largest number of private schools in the State.
Mr. Arulmurugan said that the committee comprised of a headmaster of a government school, an Assistant Elementary Education Officer, a Block Resource Teacher of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and a non-teaching staff of the School Education Department.
The District Elementary Education Officer will scrutinise the nursery and primary schools, and the matriculation schools will be assessed by the Inspector of Matriculation Schools.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) youth wing secretary V. Eswaran has asked the State Government to ensure that only those from the poorer sections, Adi Dravidars, differently abled, children of conservancy workers, and those living with HIV/AIDS were admitted under the Act.
He said that the Maharashtra model where admissions were made directly by the government through a single window counselling was worth emulation.
