Private eyes for teachers giving private tuitions

School teachers who supplement their income with private tuitions on the sly better watch out. A parents' body has employed private detectives to spy on such teachers so that action can be taken against them. The Forum for Fairness in Education (FFE), the parents' body that has put a private eye agency on the job, says that Section 28 of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, makes it clear that no schoolteacher shall give private tuitions or take up private teaching activity. Jayant Jain, president of FFE, said that a letter had been sent to school managements in the city,Chennai city and other places to remind teachers about the rule. "Despite the warning, many teachers continue to give private tuitions. This seriously compromises the quality of work they do in schools as they don't give it their full attention," said Jain. "In class too, teachers give preferential treatment to students who come to their private classes." High fees Another complaint that FFE has is the high fees charged by such teachers."They charge exorbitant fees for their private tuitions because they know students' parents have no choice but to pay up," said Sandeep Chavan, city representative of FFE. "Once we gather all evidence, we will hand over the copies of it to government authorities for action, and if we feel nothing is being done even after that, we will approach the court too." While a detective agency has already been hired, FFE said more would be hired once funds have been gathered. "These agencies are charging us heavy amounts, between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 per request, and that's why we are going slowly right now," said Chavan. "We are just a handful of parents and can't pay so much but through the forum we are asking more people to come forward, even the corporations. Once there is more money, we shall widen the campaign." Teachers miffed  Schoolteachers and college professors are miffed, calling the FFE move an insult to the teaching profession. "Yes, I agree that some teachers do this kind of work which gives a bad name to the entire community. However, employing detectives to spy on teachers is insulting to our entire teaching community," said Manohar Jadhav, professor and head of Marathi department, University of Pune. "Such acts should be condemned as not only are they intruding on our privacy, but worsening the parent-teacher relationship." Meena Chandavarkar, director of New India School, called the FFE actions highly deplorable. "In our school, we have made it clear that no teacher can give private tuitions to students of the same school. And as far as I know, the government has allowed teachers to give tuitions up to two hours a day," said Chandavarkar. "In any case, what the parents' body is doing is uncalled for and a shame."