Come June and almost every other house gets ready for an additional ‘kharcha’… Time to set aside some money to buy new books, new umbrellas, new shoes, and uniforms! But its also that time of the year when parents have another headache to deal with – donations for educational institutions.
Although branded by law as illegal, many educational institutions in the district have been engaging in collection of donations for quite some time. For some parents, shelling out bundles of notes is not an issue at all as long as their son/daughter finds a seat to study in a reputed institution. For others, it is a nuisance which they have resigned to.
Right from schooling stage to higher education levels, the menace of donation has crept in. Although education has been declared as a right of every child, a whole lot of things haven’t been going right, especially with regard to collecting of donations. At the end of it all, the ultimate sufferers are the ones seeking admissions into these institutions.
“When I took my son to a reputed school in the city to get him admitted there for eighth standard, I was told initially by them that he had to write an entrance test which was announced way back in February. When I enquired if there is any provision for a separate entrance test for my son, the Headmaster there told me that a mere ‘contribution’ would do and asked me to shell out Rs 10,000. They asked me to sign a ‘consent letter’ and when I left the amount column blank, as I was still negotiating for a lesser contribution, they told me that there is ‘no concession’ in the contribution amount to be paid. They even said that since it is a reputed institution, I have to make the payment. I later thought as to why I should be doing all this for my son who has scored good marks and has A+ results. I even asked the school authorities if that contribution was compulsory for all who apply, for which they responded in the affirmative. But when I cross checked with a friend of mine who had also got his ward admitted to the same school, I ascertained that he was not asked for any amount, in spite of the fact that his ward had far lesser marks,” says Ameen Ahsan, a troubled parent who has now filed a complaint with the DDPI demanding action against the school.
Lower middle class and poor families are the worst hit as far as donations are concerned. Over the years, quite a few Dalit families have suffered due to this ‘normal’ crime. “We are planning to go for inspections ourselves and demand information from schools. We will make sure that no injustice is done to any Dalit family. We will also be checking if they are going as per the quota norms” says Mr Keshwava, a Dalitha Sangharsha Samithi (DSS) leader.
The more important question however is, what have the concerned authorities been doing to check the long-disquieting menace? Although the recently introduced Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act by the union government, popularly known as the Right to Education Act or RTE, has strictly prohibited schools from collecting donations of any form, the rule has not seen implementation in the region, as the state government is yet to finalise rules and give implementation orders. The existing rules concerning the collection of donations prescribed by the Karnataka Education Act are not being followed either.
“As per the circular issued by the Department in 2006, no school can demand extra fees from students other than fees set as per the guidelines of the Department,” says Chame Gowda, Deputy Director of Public Instructions (DDPI), Dakshina Kannada district. And what are those guidelines? “Students are to be charged fees on the basis of a calculation to be made considering the number of teachers, total number of students, salary expenses of the teachers and so on and a specified capitation fee. Suppose if there are 10 teachers in a school and their salary expenses being borne by the concerned educational institution is 1,00,000 and a specified amount of capitation fee of 30% will result in each child being charged Rs 650 tuition fee given that the school has 200 students,” Gowda explains, giving an example. “If schools violate this and collect more, action can be taken against them”, he informs.
However, he is quick to add that action would only be taken if a complaint is lodged with the Department. “We can take a school to task only when parents or the victims file a complaint with us. Even if they give us a written complaint, we will consider it and take action against the concerned school”, Gowda says.
Waiting for a complaint to initiate inspection is not necessary though, says Prabhakar Sharma, Additional Deputy Commissioner of the district. “The DDPI and his department can always go for inspections. It is not necessary that they have to wait for complaints. But that is how usually they go about,” he says.
Filing of complaints and taking on schools head-on is something that unfortunately majority of parents and students prefer to avoid. Fear of their child being subjected to discrimination or ill-treatment post-admission, their names figuring in the media, fear of a backlash from the concerned educational institution etc being some of the reasons. “At times, even the concerned authorities commit that mistake of revealing the identity of the complainants. There was this particular case in Puttur where a family lodged a complaint against an institution for demanding donation with the authorities, who mistakenly forwarded a photocopy of their complaint to the concerned school in the process of taking action against them. The school authorities figured out the complainants and before the Department could do anything, managed to get them on their side by threatening them or getting a consent letter from them. Authorities also need to be careful in dealing with complaints,” says Renny D’Souza, Director, VALORADE (Value Oriented Educational Project), and an education activist.
Activists like D’Souza are, however, disappointed that rules for the Right to Education Act have not yet been finalised in the state, for this Act has some strict rules to tackle the donation menace. According to the Chapter IV, Section 13 (1) of the Act, “No school or person shall, while admitting a child, collect any capitation fee and subject the child or his parents or any guardian to any screening procedure”. The Act defines ‘Capitation Fee’ as “any kind of donation or contribution or payment other than the fee notified by the school”. Besides, according to the Act Section 13 (2)(a), if a school collects capitation fee from the students, it “shall be punishable with fine which may extend to ten times the capitation fee charged”.
The rules mentioned in the Karnataka Education Act are obsolete now, according to D’Souza. “When we seek an answer from the BEO or the DDPI, they helplessly show the same old circular and the same old rules concerning the collection of fees, since the state government has not yet finalized the rules for RTE. But the greater cause of concern is that even the existing rules are not being followed. As far as donations are concerned, there is a big lobby working out there. Schools say they collect donations and donations can be given by anyone. But the Act clearly says that during admission, no other money apart from the prescribed fee is to be collected. If they want to collect money, they have to collect it from outsiders, not students. But they still do it stating it is for the building fund, library fund, this fund and that fund,” says D’Souza.
Activists like D’Souza feel that the government and the local educational authorities should take some extra interest in creating awareness among the masses regarding donations. “We have requested the BEO and DDPI and the government to publish the fee specifications in newspapers and put it up on notice boards everywhere so that people would know. State government has been delaying things and the finalizing process of RTE rules is moving at a snail’s pace. Yes there are certain loopholes in the RTE Act passed by the union government. Things like need of quota within the quota of the 25% set aside by the Act to avoid injustice to backward and lower sections of the society, devising of a proper formula for fee structures to be prescribed for schools of different nature etc also have to be worked at. The government has classified schools into government, private, aided, unaided etc in RTE too. But it also needs to set guidelines as to what should be the fees they can set. For instance, a private unaided school may wish to give swimming, horse-riding education etc for students. The fees for such activities must also be prescribed by the government. We are hoping that these things would be considered in the rules being formed by the state government and hoping that its RTE rules would be far more accomplished and practical, than the existing one,” D’Souza says.
According to Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri, State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, the RTE rules are expected to be finalized in a month’s time. Implementation orders will also be given immediately after, he says. It is also learnt that the state government has directed all deputy commissioners in the state to revive the District Level Education Regulating Authorities (DLERA) to check donation collection from educational institutions. Kageri had also informed in a press briefing recently that the government will also seek Lokayukta’s help in checking the donation menace. However, that has not happened so far and speaking to Coastaldigest.com, Lok Ayukta Justice N Santhosh Hegde has revealed that no communication has been made to the office of the Lokayukta in this regard by the state government as yet.
However activists like D’Souza say the existing RTE rules can still be of great help to the masses. “The schools, the education department, the local authorities, everyone may say at this point of time that the state government has not yet finalized the RTE rules and therefore, the question of adhering to them with respect to donations and so on does not arise. But people are not aware of the fact that the union government’s rules still apply. If some school does not adhere to RTE guidelines and demands donation from parents, they can still sue the school and drag it to court as Centre has already passed the Act. In my opinion, if RTE is used today and people go to court, 50% of the unaided schools in this region would close down, as they are not following the Act’s guidelines,” D’Souza reveals.
The implementation of RTE is expected to bring about a change in the system and eliminate the nuisance of donations, thereby creating a better atmosphere of learning for children and better opportunities as well.
Because education is no child’s play… it’s a child’s right.
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