Private schools want TC made must for admission

Private schools want TC made must for admission

K Sambath Kumar & M K Ananth TNN

Trichy/Madurai: 17.06.2021 

Worried over a large number of students migrating to government schools due to the financial implications of the pandemic, private schools want the government to make transfer certificates mandatory for admission. Since the pandemic has affected livelihoods, parents who are unable to pay fees in private schools have been taking their wards to government schools where students get free education along with free textbooks, notebooks, uniforms, school bags and footwear.

Admission to Class XI and other classes had started in 27 districts on Monday. The school education department instructed government schools not to ask for transfer certificates if parents and students wanted to migrate from private schools. Government schools have been receiving many queries from parents of students studying in private schools in the past few days.

“Around 10% to 20% of students from matriculation schools and 30% to 40% from primary schools switched to government schools in the last one year alone,” said Arumugam, president of Federation of Private School Associations (FePSA) in Tamil Nadu. The federation wants the government to make Transfer Certificate (TC) mandatory to enrol students till Class VIII from another school.

“Under the right to education (RTE) act, schools can admit any child up to Class VIII without any documents including TC from the previous school. While the particular rule was aimed at bringing down dropout rate in schools, it has brought pushed private schools to the verge of closure,” said D C Elangovan, secretary, Federation of Associations of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu (FAPSIT).

Elangovan said popular private schools, which constitute less than 10% of schools across the state, could manage to retain students and collect fees from parents. But the majority of the schools are struggling to pay their teachers. According to the RTE Act, students need not produce a TC for admission if they are unable to get it from the previous school. They can get enrolled with age proof and Aadhar number. Schools also can download TC from EMIS (Education Management Information System) portal after entering the number allotted to each student.

According to data from the school education department, admissions to government schools increased by 1.3lakh in 2020-21.