AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday, April 28, 2024 opposed the reported decision of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDATN) to collect fees from government school students for the summer coaching camps that are scheduled to commence from April 29 this year.
According to a notification of the SDATN, the fees for the summer coaching camps organised between April 29 and May 13 this year would be ₹500 for camps in Chennai and ₹200 for those being organised in the district headquarters. The camps would have two sessions on these days and would coach students in football, volleyball, kabaddi, basketball, among other disciplines.
“Most of the students who take part in these summer camps are those from government schools and State-aided schools. Students interested in sports and their parents have opposed the notification from the SDATN for collecting fees from them for coaching camps,” Mr. Palaniswami contended in a statement.
The erstwhile AIADMK government had organised summer coaching camps for students without collecting fees, the former Chief Minister recalled and said thousands of students had benefitted from these camps. Mr. Palaniswami further went on to criticise Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.
The DMK government, which was claiming credit for having organised the International Chess Olympiad and of planning to set up sports stadia in every district, has now decided to collect fees from students for summer coaching camps, Mr. Palaniswami criticised.
“On behalf of the AIADMK, I strongly condemn this government’s action, which is trying to put hurdles for students who are interested in sports. The government should stop collecting fees from government school students, while claiming that it would promote sports. I urge the DMK government not to collect fees for summer coaching camps like the previous years,” Mr. Palaniswami added.
Meanwhile, the SDATN) has said that it had now regularised the collection of fees for various disciplines, as fees up to ₹2,000 was collected earlier.
Earlier, fees for coaching in various disciplines in summer camps was not uniform and was ranging between ₹200 and ₹2,000, the SDATN said, adding that it had regularised the fees as ₹500 in Chennai and ₹200 in other district headquarters.
In these camps, participants would be provided training, sports uniform, tiffin, and certificates, among others. Though a sum of ₹8,000 was allotted towards expenditure in each of the district headquarters since 2013 (barring 2016 and when camps were not held during 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the sum has been increased to ₹15,000 to each of the camps in the district headquarters from 2023.
In a release, the SDATN recalled that fees were being collected from 2013 for summer coaching camps. In 2013, the fees for tennis was ₹1,500 and ₹1,000 for badminton and ₹500 for cricket. Likewise, fees was collected for various disciplines covered by the summer coaching camps that year.
In 2018, ₹2,000 was collected for badminton in the summer coaching camps, ₹1,500 for tennis and ₹1,000 for cricket, football, gymnastics, archery and shooting, among others, it said. A sum of ₹500 was collected for athletics, fencing, handball and volleyball that year, the SDATN recalled.
