Kakinada: Government order on fees goes for a toss in private schools

Kakinada: The government seems to be helpless before the private schools who are fleecing their students to the hilt.

With Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's initiatives, the school education has regained past glory. The government schools are brimming with students and even surpassing the strength of corporate schools in East Godavari district.

The development of government schools in many areas under Nadu-Nedu programme prompted many parents to admit their children in government schools. But many students could not get seats in government schools. They have to join private schools.

Now, such students' situation is that they cannot go to government schools and they cannot afford high fees in private schools.

Though the government issued a GO, fixing tuition fees in private schools as per the classes and also appointed a chairman to implement the fee structure, no private school is implementing the same and not taking care of the government instructions.

Unless the parents are able to pay the fees in time, the managements immediately stop the online classes. Whether the student attends online class or not the managements have been squeezing money from the parents.

While half of the academic year is lost due to the Covid pandemic this year also, the schools are demanding full fees of the of the lost months from students' parents without considering the situation.

The school managements have increased the fees abnormally and demanding the parents to pay the first and second term fees.

Prajaswamya Parirakshana Ikya Vedika district president Pappu Durga Ramesh told 'The Hans India' that though the government issued a GO that instru "cted the school managements to cut 30 per cent of the fees with last year's fees as basis, the managements have not accepted it. In Rajahmundry, one private school is threatening the parents that they can take their wards' TC, if they fail to pay the fees.But the State government is not able to take any action against them."

The economic condition of many parents is very poor due to covid-19 and they have no money to pay the fees. He demanded that the government rationalise the fees structure.

Many of the parents are demanding the government to save them from high fees being collected by the private educational institutions in general and corporate and semi-corporate schools in particular.

They want reduction in fee amount in private schools and allocation of seats for poor children in the government schools.