Bengaluru school charges RTE students for admission

In open violation of the RTE Act rules, a school here is collecting fees from students admitted under the 25 per cent reserved quota and is even issuing chalans for the same.

RTE quota students at Goodwill Girls High School in Fraser Town have been paying fees every year ever since they joined the school. A parent, whose daughter is in class 3, said the school had been collecting the fees right from class 1. “In class 1, the school collected about Rs 2,000 and in the class 2, about Rs 5,000. In class 3, it hiked the fees to about Rs 6,000. If we do not protest now, it will go on increasing the fees next year and the year after that,” said the parent, who refused to be named, fearing action from the school.

Deccan Herald has a copy of the chalan issued to the student, which asks her to pay Rs 6,136 under heads such as ‘administrative charge, uniform, books, computer, infrastructural development and others’. Similar chalans have been issued to several other students admitted under the 25 per cent quota.

Another parent, whose daughter was admitted under the RTE reserved quota in class 3, said that the school charged regular students Rs 13,000 and those under the RTE quota Rs 6,136. “The school stopped admitting students under the reserved quota from this year,” the parent added.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Vani, the headmistress of the school, said: “We are not charging any tuition fees for these students. The amount being collected is meant for books and uniform. In any case, the government hasn’t reimbursed us for admitting students under the RTE quota for the last two years.” The State government pays Rs 11,848 for each student in class 1 and Rs 5,924 for those in the pre-school level. A number of schools have complained about the delay in reimbursement.

Niranjan Aradhya V P, Fellow, Centre for Child and Law, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), said the school’s action in collecting fees amounted to a “gross violation” of the rules and an “injustice” to the students.

V Ramesh, Block Education Officer, North Zone-3, under whose jurisdiction the school falls, said a committee had been formed to look into the matter and a report would be prepared in a few days.