Chennai: Private matric schools blame the state government for its failure to reimburse them the money they had provided as fee waiver to the 25 per cent of students admitted under Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act for the last three years.
Pointing out that all private matriculation schools in the state had implemented RTE Act three years ago, K.R. Nandakumar, secretary of Tamil Nadu nursery, primary, matriculation and higher secondary schools association, said that despite admitting thousands of students in LKG, class 1 and 6 (entry level in schools) for the last three years the government failed to repay the fees waived off by them.
“When the state government wants us to provide free education to 25 per cent students as part of RTE Act why doesn’t it keep its word and reimburse us the fees. If this situation continues our financial liability will increase multifold forcing us to close down our institutions,” he said.
Asked about the school managements’ demand, school education secretary D. Sabitha pointed out that Union government had to provide 64 per cent of the fee waiver to the state government, which would in turn reimburse it to the schools.
“The Union government is yet to release its funds for 2013-14 academic year. However it has committed to pay money for 2014-15 through Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan (SSA) state allocation, once we receive the funds we will give it to the schools,” she said.
