Refund money to students, government told

BHUBANESWAR: The chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Shantha Sinha on Thursday asked the State Government to refund all the fees/funds collected illegally on admission grounds by headmasters and teachers of government schools across the State.She said the staff should return the money to the children at their doorsteps and collect receipts against the payments made.Speaking to mediapersons after a two-day State-level public hearing on violations of child rights in the State, she said the Right To Education Act bars collection of money from any student in government schools for admission or any other expenses.“In violation to this provision, it has been alleged that a number of schools in the State have collected fees starting from ` 100 to ` 250 as admission fees and miscellaneous expenses from poor students. This is not acceptable and the money has to be refunded immediately,” she said and cited how the Harayana Government returned ` 3 crore to students.At the public hearing, most of the petitioners complained that circulars on norms of the RTE Act had not reached the schools as a result of which, teachers are denying free education to children.However, Sinha said there is no need for such a circular and pointed out that there should be no screening camp for admission.The State Government should to come up with a special tribal policy to address needs of children in tribal hamlets where schools cannot be set up due to less number of students, she suggested.Stating that gram panchayats are entrusted with  implementation of the RTE at the grassroots level, Sinha said none of the GPs are playing a proactive role. The NCPCR Chairperson directed the State Government for time-bound redressal of all the grievances that were taken up during the public hearing.On the role of the State School & Mass Education Department, Sinha said though the Department is making impressive efforts to bring about changes, it seems the message is yet to percolate down to school and teacher level. “All the steps taken by the Department looks good on paper but I have to find out if all these are being implemented across schools,” she remarked.