Karnataka - Belgaum   

Protest planned against donation menace in schools

Belgaum: The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) will hold a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Monday to protest against “donation menace” in English-medium schools in Belgaum city.

Parents will also participate in the demonstration, KRV district unit president Rajeev Topannavar said here on Sunday.

He said that many government-aided schools in the city were illegally collecting donations ranging up to Rs. 50,000 for admission to pre-primary and primary classes. Despite the State Government’s direction to Deputy Directors of Public Instruction to ensure that no school collected donations, no steps had been taken to check the menace, he said.

Donations were being collected in the name of third party to avoid action from the Government, Mr. Topannavar said.

The Government should either ensure that there was transparency in the admission process or take over the schools that were collecting donations, he added. K.U. Kumar, a parent told The Hindu on Sunday that some schools were demanding a minimum donation of Rs. 15,000 besides recommendation by influential persons for admission to LKG. The maximum donation being demanded was about Rs. 40,000, he said. The donation menace was rampant in English-medium schools, he said and added that some schools had increased the donation amount this year and were collecting it in the name of third party. In addition, the schools were collecting money for expansion fund and poor student fund which would add up to more than the tuition fee fixed by the Government.

Dyanoba B.P., a parent, said that providing education had become a business now days. “Private managements (including those of aided institutions) have converted the education system into a profit-earning venture as there is no one to control them,” he said.

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