The Andhra Pradesh School Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APSERMC) has warned schools and junior colleges in the State against advance collection of fee for the coming academic year.
Formed by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government immediately after coming to power to streamline the educational sector, the commission is also endowed with judicial powers to crack the whip when necessary. In the first of the 13 district-level meetings planned with stakeholders to fix the tuition fee from LKG to Intermediate, the commission members on Wednesday sat with the representatives of aided, unaided, corporate schools and junior colleges, parents and social activists.
Inputs sought
V. Narayana Reddy, a retired professor of anthropology at SV University and B. Eswaraiah, formerly associated with Rishi Valley School, who represented the commission, sought inputs from the participants, when the schools proposed to categorise themselves into rural and urban schools for fixing the fee. On the other hand, the junior colleges opted to be divided into five categories — rural, semi urban, urban, tribal and metropolitan areas. It was in this connection that Prof. Reddy issued a stern warning to the institutes not to collect fee in advance before the fee was fixed, terming it ‘illegal’ and making them liable for action. He also informed the parents to bring such demands to the commission’s notice.
As the Intermediate examination began today, the panel members, along with the Regional Inspection Officer M. Krishnaiah, visited SV Junior College for checking the presence of drinking water and medical facilities.
They interacted with students from the TTD’s School for Deaf and Dumb, who they found were bubbling with enthusiasm for a flying career.
Later, accompanied by Regional Joint Director B. Venkatakrishna Reddy, they had midday meal along with the students of the Padmavathipuram government school.
