Members of Students Federation of India (SFI), including two women, staged a demonstration in front of the office of the Chief Educational Officer here on Wednesday seeking action against private schools that collected excess fee from students and failed to provide 25 per cent reservation under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
They were arrested when they attempted to lay siege to the CEO’s office.
They raised slogans against the State government for failing to crack the whip on schools that violated government norms on fee collection and provisions of the RTE Act. They were released later in the evening.
“Two students in the State, who had secured good marks in SSLC, committed suicide recently because they were not able to pay the exorbitant fee demanded for admission to Standard XI. The State government is liable for their deaths because it failed to curb excess fee collection in schools,” said V. Mariappan, State Vice-President of SFI, who led the protest.
“The School Education Department should revoke the approval granted to schools that collect excess fee and fail to implement the RTE Act. The government should take over such schools,” he added.
According to S. Karthick, district president of SFI, most of the private schools in the city did not issue application forms to students from weaker sections of the society who approached them for 25 per cent reservation under the RTE Act.
“The schools which issued the applications for admission under the RTE Act have not published the selection list, but the classes for the academic year of 2014-2015 have commenced,” he said.
“Private and government aided schools are demanding excess fee from students. A few institutions in the city demand as much as Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1.5 lakh for admission to Standard XI,” Mr. Karthick alleged.
Members of the SFI urged the School Education Department to form a monitoring committee comprising representatives from parents and students associations for effective implementation of the RTE Act.
