Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Ramakrishnan said that many private schools were collecting excess fees and some even resorted to ingenious ways, like asking the parents to deposit the difference of fee in a ‘hundi.' While receipts were issued for the prescribed fee the difference was accepted without any acknowledgement.
Some schools maintained that the fee collected now was for one term and some manipulated with transport and hostel fees. When parents questioned the collection of excess fees, some schools even threatened to close down, he said.
The CPI (M) leader wanted the government to ensure that only the fee prescribed by the Govindarajan Committee was collected by private schools.
“Take over”
Failure to do so should attract de-recognition and the government should take over such schools. The party, he said, opposed the decision to allow private schools to have their own textbooks under the ‘samacheer kalvi' scheme. This would only lead to disparities between aided and private schools and ultimately defeat the purpose of the scheme. The move to allow foreign universities in the country would have an adverse impact on the education system, he said.
Mr. Ramakrishnan appealed to the State Government to distribute 740 acres of government poromboke land reclaimed from encroachers in Tallavada village of Gummidipoondi taluk to the Dalits and landless people. A similar step should be taken in the case of 199 acres of land in Kaverirajapuram.
Explaining the stand of the State CPI (M) in the Mullaperiyar issue, Mr. Ramakrishnan said that it was for implementation of the Supreme Court order of raising the dam level to 142 feet from the present 136 feet.
Tamil Nadu, he said, should voice the aspirations of the people of southern districts in the five-member committee constituted by the apex court to review the issue.
(Courtesy : The Hindu)
