Six colleges charged with collecting tuition fee from Dalit students in Tamilnadu

Updated on: Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The Tamil Nadu state government has sought a detailed report on the issue of collecting tuition fee from Dalit students across the state from District Adi Dravidar Welfare Officers.

In response to the directive by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes on March 5 to the Secretary of the State Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department to look into allegations regarding six colleges in various parts of the State, the Tamil Nadu government sent a communication on March 11, according to S. Karuppiah, State joint secretary of the Dalit Liberation Movement Tamil Nadu, which preferred a complaint with the NCST after carrying out a study in six districts.

The government had asked the colleges concerned to send their responses. The colleges in question were located in the districts of Theni, Madurai, Karur, Tiruppur, Coimbatore and Tiruvannamalai.

In the complaint, a Madurai-based NGO, charged few colleges compelled Dalit students to pay tuition fee even though they were covered under the State government scheme, which take care of the entire "compulsorily payable fees", including the tuition fee fixed by the government-constituted committee.

As per the scheme that came into force from 2011-2012, the important condition for students to avail themselves of the benefit is that their annual family income should be less than Rs. 2 lakh.

A study conducted by the Dalit Liberation Movement revealed that students were forced to pay the tuition fee, that was against the State government's order, Mr Karuppaiah said, adding that over 450 Dalit students of the six colleges were covered.

He also said that college administration, under the pretext of arranging educational loans, even secured personal loans for students through a private bank.

Six colleges charged with collecting tuition fee from Dalit students in Tamilnadu

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