Hyderabad: The TRS government’s poll promise to make education free from KG to PG has put lower-rung private schools in a fix. These schools cater to low income groups, and collect fees ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 a year.
Though schools opened three weeks ago, parents are refusing to pay the fees citing the “free education” promised by the TRS government.
School managements have decided to meet Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao seeking clarity on the ‘free education’ issue. They want the government to make a public statement on this issue to clear doubts about free education once and for all. The issue has been frequently leading to confrontation between school managements and parents. Parents have been asking managements why they are demanding fees when the TRS government has promised free education from PG to KG.
“Parents are bringing newspaper cuttings of statements given by the CM and education minister Jagadeeshwar Reddy on free education. Though we are trying to explain to parents that the free education scheme is yet to be implemented and that we have not received any directions from the government so far, we have failed to convince them. Parents are accusing the managements of looting them despite the government agreeing to bear the cost,” said S. Sreenivas Reddy, president, Greater Hyde-rabad Private Schools Managements’ Associa-tion.
The managements poin-ted out that a majority of parents are refusing to pay fees. They said they have no objection to provide free education if the government comes out with clear-cut directions on fee reimbursement.
TD’s LB Nagar MLA R. Krishnaiah, who is also the president of the BC Welfare Association, met the CM and urged him to clear the air on what ‘free education’ means, and whether it is applicable to private institutions.
"Why should parents pay when TRS has promised to provide free education? It's not proper to blame parents for non-payment of fees. The government has been creating confusion by not being clear on the issue," he added.
