Punjab Chief Minister announced that government schools in the state will not charge any admission, re-admission and tuition fee from students

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday announced that government schools in the state will not charge any admission, re-admission and tuition fee from students for the 2020-21 academic session on account of the Covid crisis.

As far as fee charged by private schools was concerned, the state government had already moved the court, but for government schools no fee would be charged at all for the full year, said the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister also announced provisional admission in Class XI for the 31000 Class X students in the open school system, who could not promoted amid the Covid crisis based on internal assessment, as no such assessment exists for them. To ensure that their future is not adversely affected, the state government has decided to allow them provisional admission in Class XI, but they will be required to take examinations once things normalise, he said.

Captain Amarinder made these announcements during today’s edition of #AskCaptain. He also announced a cash prize of Rs. 5100 each to 335 students who have scored over 98% in Class XII.

Congratulating the government schools for outscoring private schools again this year, the Chief Minister pointed out that the 94.32% pass percentage in Government schools is the highest ever in the School Board history. Giving credit to the teachers, staff and students who worked hard despite the adversaries triggered by the Covid situation, the Chief Minister extended his thanks to them all.

Captain Amarinder disclosed that there has been an unprecedented 13% increase in admission in Government schools this year. All this had become possible due to the various initiatives undertaken by his government to improve the school education system, he said, adding that besides making smart schools, good teachers were recruited, science teachers were hired in border areas and steps were taken to ensure attendance of students. Copying and other unfair practices were also stopped, he said, adding that all this contributed towards improvement in results of government schools. Good school education is extremely necessary for building the foundations for the future, he stressed.

Responding to a plea of help from Manpreet Singh, a small shopkeeper of Khamanu, Fatehgarh Sahib, whose daughter’s name had been struck off the rolls due to non-payment of annual charges by Garden Valley International School, the Chief Minister said he would ask the DC to immediately intervene and ensure that the child is taken back into the school. “No school can remove students like this,” he assured, adding that strict penalties would be imposed, if needed, on any school indulging in such acts