Updated on: Friday, July 17, 2009
Chennai: A bill to prevent collection of exorbitant fees by the private and government aided schools in Tamil Nadu was introduced in the state Assembly today.
'Whoever contravenes the provisions of this Act or the rules made there under shall, on conviction, be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extend to seven years and with fine which may extend to Rs 5000', the proposed legislation lay down.
The Bill was introduced after repeated demands by Opposition parties which urged the state government to take steps to prevent collection of exorbitant fees by the private and government aided schools, in the name of providing quality education.
According to objects and reasons of the Bill, it has been brought to the notice of the state government that private schools were collecting exorbitant fees from pupils towards special fees, tuition fees, terms fees, disproportionate to the infrastructure facilities provided by them.
Since no uniform procedure was followed by private schools in fixing the fees under different heads, the state government decided to bring in a comprehensive legislation providing for regulation of collection of fees by private schools in the state.
The School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasau introduced the Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act, 2009, violation of which would attract punishment including jail term ranging from three to seven years.