While the State government has asked private school managements to accept 70% of the fees, Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar on Saturday said the government was still open to reconsidering the schools’ demand if they keep in mind the plight of parents too.
During an interaction with teachers and headmasters, organised by the district administration here, Mr. Kumar said the State hovernment was not taking this as a prestige issue. “We are still open to hear private school managements. If they propose a formula by considering problems of parents we are ready to accept it,” he said.
The Minister was reacting to the question by Jayamala, a teacher from a private school, who said the fee reduction proposed by the government has hit her school hard as it was taking ₹6,500 as annual fee. The teachers were being paid only 50% salary, she said.
The Minister said the State government was in a piquant situation on the issue where there was trust deficit between the school managements and parents. The government did not want to interfere in the issue and had asked the private school managements to come with fee reduction formula. As the managements asked the government to decide, orders were passed to permit private schools to accept only 70 % of tuition fees. The issue was now in the High Court and the government has to wait what orders will be passed, he said.
On another question seeking launch of mid-day meals for students from classes VI to X, the Minister said letter has been written to the Centre seeking its clearance. “The day we receive the green signal, we will start mid-day meals in our schools,” he said.
On the issue of considering performance of students in sports and other extra curricular activities while giving marks in class X examination, he said it will be taken up during his discussion with officials from Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board.
While stating that the government will not tolerate erratic valuation, the Minister said it will consider having two evaluation centres in Dakshina Kannada. The final timetable of the class X examination will be released in a couple of days, he said.
Earlier, representatives from various private schools in the district met the Minister at a temple in Shakti Nagar and asked him to reconsider the decision about fee reduction. A delegation of government school teachers also met the Minister and submitted a memorandum about pending promotion and other service related issues.
