The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : “Schools demand donations”

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Monday, Aug 11, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

“Schools demand donations”

K. Manikandan

Authorities deny allegations thrown by parents of students

TAMBARAM: Despite repeated announcements from the State government, the practice of demanding and collecting huge sums as donation at the time of admission seems to continue in a few government and aided schools.

In a popular, old government-aided school in East Tambaram, the sums demanded were so high that many families had to admit their children to schools far away while some children are still at home. Former students, elected representatives and members of the School Education Committee of Corley Higher Secondary School are upset.

While school authorities denied the charges, stating they did not collect more than Rs. 1,000, relatives and parents of children said huge sums were demanded from them. Some of them who spoke to reporters said a committee of officials of the School Education Department and academics should visit the school and interact with students and their parents to get their feedback.

A ward member from Jalladampettai village panchayat near Tambaram said she was taken aback when school authorities demanded Rs. 10,000 to get her sister’s son admitted to Class VII.

Dejected, she got her nephew admitted in a government school in Kovilambakkam. Selvam of Irumbuliyur, working in a private firm, said he was unable to admit his younger brother in Standard XI as he was asked to cough up Rs. 6,000.

“I cannot even afford to take a loan of Rs. 6,000,” he said, adding his younger brother was still in school.

A West Tambaram businessman recalled that along with his three brothers, he studied at the Corley a few decades ago.

But when he took two boys related to him to get them admitted in Standard XI, he was asked to make a payment of Rs. 8,000 for each of the boys. When he said he could not afford to pay more than Rs. 5,000, admission was refused.

The businessman said that following a request from elected representatives in Tambaram, he was able to admit the two boys in a government school elsewhere.

He said he was deeply pained as his family had contributed Rs. 25,000 to the construction of the silver jubilee block, while he was a student of Class VI.

Plaints galore

Municipal councillors in the area said they were flooded with complaints from both students and parents about how they were fleeced in the name of donation. They recalled that the school was established more than 80 years ago with the objective of providing quality and modern education to children from poor families in Irumbuliyur, Selaiyur, Perungalathur, Peerkankaranai and backward pockets of West Tambaram.

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