Private aided school charging excess fee

Hyderabad: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written a letter to the Hyderabad magistrate against a private aided school in the city 'Leela Bai Motilal Tondawale High School' in Charkaman in Pathergatti for not following Government Order (GO) no: 1. According to the GO, charging of building fund by the institution is illegal.

However, as per the RTI filed by a social and child rights activist, Akshay Kumar to the Deputy Inspector of Schools stated that the school is not only charging Rs 60 in the name of building funds but were actually charging a fee of Rs 17,800. The institution has two separate accounts. One of them as per the list of government is in Punjab National bank where the fee of Rs 100 is deposited. Meanwhile, the other 17,700 is deposited at the other account. The NCPCR initiated action against the school following the complaint received by the social activist.

Explaining the issue and the RTI filed, Akshay said, "Any aided school that is taken care of by the government can only charge a nominal amount of Rs 40 as it is a private aided school. However, when I filed my first RTI to know the fee structure of the school, they stated that a total of Rs 60 for the building fund and Rs 40 as the nominal fee is charged. As per the GO No. 1, only the nominal fee can be charged by the schools."

During a ground investigation by the social activist, he found that the children were actually paying a fee of Rs 17,800. He further said that "when asked about the permission copy of running the institution, they said that they do not need any permit to run the school. It is a criminal conspiracy as the institution has two accounts.

One in Punjab Nation bank, which is listed with the District Education Officer (DEO) and the other is at Agrasen Co-operative Bank which has no approval from the officials. The school is not following any norms that come under the GO No. 1, and there is no sanitation facility available for the students as well." The commission has asked the Hyderabad District magistrate to enquire and submit a report by January 23.