Education Minister R. Kamalakannan has appealed to parents to come forward and get their children admitted in government schools as the government has taken several steps to develop infrastructure and other facilities in the institutions.
Replying to the views expressed by MLAs belonging to the ruling and opposition parties during Zero Hour on the implementation of the Right to Education Act, he said the government had been spending around ₹600 crore for education and for development of infrastructure in government schools.
The RTE envisaged free education in government schools to the extent of 25% of seats to benefit children from poor families. Although Puducherry has the record of having one government school every 3-km radius, parents preferred private schools. Consequently the purpose of having RTE could not be fully implemented in the union territory, Mr. Kamalakannan said.
He said the government schools had adequate teachers and ideal infrastructure. But still parents were avoiding admitting their children in the institutions. This trend should change.
Fee structure
As far as the fee structure was concerned, a committee had been constituted headed by a retired Judge of the Madras High Court. The committee was now in the final stages of announcing the fee structure.
Mr. Kamalakannan lamented that around 100 schools had not responded to the queries raised by the fee committee. The department would soon announce the fee structure for private schools.
Referring to complaints made by MLAs that students of government schools found it difficult to get admission in the same school, he said this would end soon and he would hold consultations with the officials soon.
Earlier, R. Siva (DMK) said that children of poor families who had studied Class 10 in government schools were turned away by schools for Class 11. Students from private schools were admitted to Class 11. “This is unjust and unfair and students from government institutions could not continue their education in the same schools beyond Class 10,” he said.
Opposition AIADMK (Amma) MLA A. Anbalagan wanted effective implementation of the Right to Education Act to enable children from poor families to get free education. Another AIADMK (Amma) member Vayyapuri Manikandan complained that private schools were torturing parents by levying hefty fees for Class 11 and 12.
