PUDUCHERRY: At the beginning of every academic session, there is a hue and cry over the exorbitant fee charged by some unaided private schools in the Union Territory. However, the matter subsequently dies down in the absence of a body to regulate fees. There is no provision in the Pondicherry School Education Act to restrict fees charged by any school, say officials. Though it is mandatory for all schools to get the approval of the authorities concerned for starting a school with due recognition from the directorate of school education, the latter only has powers to inspect the facilities including infrastructure, basic amenities, safety aspects and teaching positions.With Tamil Nadu government regulating fees in private institutions by bringing in the Tamil Nadu School (regulation of collection of fee) Act 2009 and the Tamil Nadu School (regulation of collection of fee ) Rules, 2009, the demand for implementation of such an Act in the Union Territory has gained momentum. Recently, the Tamil Nadu government fixed fees for 10,934 private self-financing schools across Tamil Nadu. The Private Schools Fee Determination Committee, a statutory panel appointed by the government, finalised the fee structure after conducting a detailed study of the various issues. This has raised the hopes of parents in Puducherry that the government would take recourse to a similar action.In the UT, there are 215 unaided private schools of which 167 are in the Puducherry region, 30 in Karaikal region, 12 in Mahe region and six in Yanam region. Among these, 35 are higher secondary schools, 12 high schools, 46 middle schools and 62 primary schools. There have been complaints of several schools collecting compulsory ‘donations’ for admission of their wards in schools, citing ‘building fund’ and other such issues. Many parents question the logic behind regulating the fee of unaided private professional colleges like engineering and medical, while letting the schools go scot-free and giving a commercial slant to the whole affair. Meanwhile, president of the local unit of the PMK, R K R Anantharaman, has urged the government to constitute a committee for regulating the fees of schools immediately. The issue had been raised in the past in the legislative Assembly in 2008 by an MLA , but the then government led by CM N Rangasamy suggested that parents opt for government schools which had better facilities as well as teachers. Once the demand ceased, private schools would not be able to fleece parents. However, the standard of all government schools has not been on par with private schools. Several schools are bogged down by problems such as vacant teaching positions and delay in posting of teachers. Though former CM V Vaithilingam who succeeded NR said in the legislative Assembly that a bill to regulate fees in unaided private schools would be introduced with regulations being framed. it is yet to see the light of day. He also promised to constitute a committee headed by a retired HC judge to determine the fee structure for unaided private schools in the UT, which also did not happen. A proposal to set up a committee to fix the fee for unaided schools has been recommended to the government, but the proposal is still pending with them, said G Paneerselvam, director, school education.
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