Parents rue lack of receipt for excess fee from pvt schools

VELLORE: Parents are an aggrieved lot, as many private schools have not issued receipts for the cash collected under various heads even a week after commencement of regular classes, sources said.

Sivaraman (name changed), parent of a child, in Class 10 in a Gandhinagar private school said, “I was asked to pay a total of Rs 30,700 for which I was given a receipt for only Rs 12,700. This included the term fees of Rs 9,200 and book fees of Rs 3,500. I was denied a receipt for the Rs 18,000 despite repeated pleas.”

As he wanted his son to apply for a scholarship he asked school authorities to provide a receipt for the Rs 30,000 (scholarship amounts are based on fee receipts), but school officials told him that he had to get an auditor letter proving that he had submitted his income tax returns correctly. Miffed, the parent came home at a loss on what to do next.

Though government had ordered schools to put up the fee structure on their notice boards, this was rarely followed. Another parent unwilling to reveal her identity said, “In the school where my son studies, the fee structure is shown to parents and taken back and hence there is no record with parents on how much they pay under different heads.”

Asked about this, vocational teacher and JACTO-GEO state EC member SN Janardhanan said, “initially some schools did put up their fee structure on notice boards, but with the passage of time, the move was discontinued.”

Vellore District Consumer Forum president K Sathiyamoorthy said, “it is an open secret that private schools collect fees in excess of that prescribed by the government. They also do not put up their fee structure on their notice boards. When this is the case, I wonder why School Education Department officials fail to take action. Contravening government rules should lead to the licenses of such schools being cancelled as only then will such errant institutions fall in line.”