A bunch of young children and their parents on Friday assembled in front of the East Singhbhum district collectorate in Jamshedpur to register their complaint against a private school that is allegedly seeking tuition fee from BPL students in gross violation of the RTE Act.
Parents of 10 students of ICSE-affiliated Rajendra Vidyalaya, who had assembled under Jamshedpur Abhibhavak Sangh, claimed that the Sakchi cradle had asked the children to fork out Rs 250 each, failing which they would be punished.
"Under the Right To Education Act, BPL students are to be provided free education while the cost of teaching them should be reimbursed by the state government. The school is violating the RTE directive. We want justice for these students. They were admitted last year under the BPL quota and have come here today to narrate their woes," said Umesh Kumar, president of the parents' outfit.
Of the 10 students promoted to upper kindergarten, four children - Riya Chatterjee, Saptami Sardar, Nikhil Kumar Gope and Shiva Prasad Mahto - were allegedly punished on Thursday by their class teacher for not paying school fee.
"Teacher ne humein bahar khada kar diya aur bola ki paisa lake do. (Our teacher made us stand outside the class and asked us to bring fee)," said five-year-oldSaptami, a resident of Deonagar in Sitaramdera and daughter of a contractual worker.
Shyamali Gope, mother of Nikhil, also a resident of Deonagar, alleged that the students were made to stand outside their class for 40 minutes from 10am.
"Section 17 of the RTE Act says that no student till primary level can be harassed either physically or mentally. We have submitted a memorandum at deputy commissioner Amitabh Kaushal's office," said Kumar.
District superintendent of education Indra Bhusan Singh conceded that asking any BPL student to pay tuition fee was gross violation of the RTE Act. "I will look into the complaint," he added.
Principal of Rajendra Vidyalaya P.B. Sahay has, however, rubbished the charges.
"These are baseless allegations. I do not think any teacher of our school will ask a poor student to pay fees or punish them for not paying the same. But, I will still conduct an inquiry into the allegation," Sahay said.
