Following a complaint from the parents of Bala Vidya Mandir, an officer deputed by the Private School fee fixation committee visited the school on Thursday to inspect records and get testimonies from the parents.
“The school has already submitted in writing that they would not collect more fees than that stipulated by the committee, so this inspection was for the previous few years’ fees,” a senior official said.
He added that they would take a decision on June 18, when the inspecting officer submits his report to the committee.
“The committee then has the power to ask the school to refund the excess fees collected,” the official said.
It has been four days since the school reopened, following a week-long protest by the parents and teachers.
Initially, they were protesting a school circular that allowed students to either pay the fees fixed by the committee and not be given access to extracurricular activities, or a fee that was much higher and be given access to 59 different extracurricular activities.
BVM Global waits
for affiliation
After the troubles at BVM Adyar settled down, it is now the turn of BVM Global, Bollineni Hillside to face issues. The school, which is still awaiting affiliation from the CBSE, has already admitted students for class XI and collected fees.
Recently, the parents of class XI students met with the senior principal, who gave them the option of waiting for affiliation to come through, or find another school for their wards.
According to one of the parents, their demand was to admit their wards in BVM Adyar or the Perungudi school, since admissions in all other schools would have ended by now.
The school, however, is asking that the parents be patient since the CBSE was expected to grant affiliation soon.
“We wrote to them in May with clarifications they had asked for, and are expecting a reply at any time. Affiliation has not been rejected, only a bit delayed,” a school official said.
Asan Memorial
gets order
In the meanwhile, parents of students from Asan Memorial School also complained that the school was charging well over the amount fixed by the committee.
In this case, Justice Singaravelu has issued an interim order asking that the school immediately desist from overcharging the parents. “The order will hold until the parents and officials appear before the committee to present their cases,” an official said.
The committee will study the fee collected by the school during previous years to see if a refund is necessary, officials said
