India. School students paying staff pensions
Should a school student who has gained admission on full scholarship, after a national-level entrance examination, be forced to pay for the pensions and salary of his school staff?
This is the question that the authorities who run the Sainik Schools are struggling to address.
According to the estimates with the government, total expenditure on a Sainik School student is a minimum of ₹62,000 per year. Even in the case of students on a full scholarship, (excluding those from SC/ST and OBC communities), the parents now pay from their own pockets anywhere between ₹18,000 and ₹40,000 per annum. A part of this caters to the salary and pension of school employees, officials say.
For example, a student currently enrolled in Sainik School, Amaravathinagar in Tamil Nadu, is required to contribute to the pension of all the staff who worked in the school since it was founded in 1962. “Even if the student is the child of a poor Army havildar, he has to pay a few thousand rupees every month in spite of the scholarships and financial support from both the State and the Centre,” a source pointed out.
Full Content: The Hindu
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