Parents of children studying in private schools can now view the revised fee structure for three academic years beginning in 2013, on the government’s website: http://sp.tn.gov.in/miscellaneous/fees.html
The fee structure for 8,226 schools in the State and 590 schools in the city, set by a private schools fee determination committee, was put up on the website on Wednesday.
The highest fee for LKG in the city has been fixed for Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School, which can charge Rs. 28,400 for 2013-14. The class XI and XII fee is the highest for SBOA Matriculation at Rs. 38,000 for the current academic year.
On an average, the fee for schools increases by 10 per cent for the first two years, and 15 per cent for the third year. The fee structure has been split into five slabs comprising LKG and UKG, I-V, VI-VIII, IX-X and XI and XII.
Justice S.R. Singaravelu, who headed the committee, said they had sent notices to 10,000 schools, of which fee structures for 8,226 schools had been fixed.
These are schools whose three-year fee structure determined by the previous committee had expired, he explained.
“Of these, 330 schools had stopped functioning and the remaining were absent for the hearing. We have sent a notice to schools which were absent, and their fee will be fixed by July 4,” he said.
The hearing, which began in March, concluded on Tuesday. The fee structure has taken into account all expenses of the schools including, teachers’ salaries, transport charges, maintenance costs, teaching aids, books and periodicals and smart classrooms, he said.
Schools, however, did not seem too happy with the fee structure.
“It is a management decision, and we will have to see how they react to the new structure. The expenditure in KG classes is higher than that of higher classes, because we have many teachers and helpers, but this has not been addressed,” said the principal of a CBSE school.
The principal of a Matriculation school too said that the fixed fee was far below their expectation. “We have collected only the first term fee, and will see what to do next,” she said.
Aparna Bharat, a CBSE parent said that she had no problem with the fee collected by the school at present and that there has been a marginal hike in the fee every academic year depending on various parameters.
“If paying extra will benefit teachers, and in turn students, a hike will also be acceptable,” she said.
Though Mr. Singaravelu said they had indicated, but not fixed the fee for schools awaiting renewal of recognition, one such school said that they had not been called for a hearing.
“We have submitted all the necessary documents and our renewal is pending with the department,” the principal said.
Mr. Singaravelusaid they had made a note of the status of all schools awaiting recognition in the individual orders sent to schools, and indicated the fees which the school can charge so that parents are not overcharged. He said parents could approach the committee if schools were found overcharging.