CHANDIGARH: Terming the announcement of waiver of fees in government schools in the state as by the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh as backstabbing and betrayal with the students and their parents, Aam Aadmi Party said that the directives issued by the Education Department have exposed the lies of the Chief Minister. Therefore, the Chief Minister should apologize to the people of Punjab and withdraw the order / notification issued by the Education Department seeking different fees from the students of 11th and 12th classes.
In a statement issued from the party headquarters, party MLAs Principal Budh Ram, Meet Hayer, Rupinder Kaur Ruby and Kulwant Singh Pandori said that on one hand Chief Minister is issuing orders of complete waiver of fees pertaining to the students of government schools while sitting in his luxurious farmhouse, while on the contrary, the Punjab Education Department was issuing orders to levy multiple fees from 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th class students.
Principal Budh Ram and Meet Hayer sought clarification from the Chief Minister regarding the orders issued by the Controller of Punjab School Education Board dated August 24, 2020. Principal Budh Ram and Meet Hayer, referring to page 44 of the speech of Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal for the year 2020-21, said that the Finance Minister had announced in the House to provide free education to all students up to 12th standard. So the government should explain why are students being charged fees under different names?
Rupinder Kaur Ruby and Kulwant Singh Pandori terming the Chief Minister's announcement of free education for all children till 12th as misleading, said that there was a huge difference between the words and deeds of 'Raja Sahib'. They said that the statement of secretary, school education department has put a question mark on the stand of the government. The Secretary said that the fees charged from Class XII students, which are deposited in the treasury, will no longer be charged.
The AAP leaders said that the reality of the Chief Minister's announcement was that only the meagre fees deposited in the state exchequer were waived, while the major part of the fees being collected as amalgamated Fund, Sports Fund, PTA and Cultural Fund would be charged from the students apart from charging examination fees. Students up to class XI and XII have been asked to deposit some fees, including late fees. Lashing out at the Punjab government the AAP leaders said that government should abandon the drama of providing free education to the students and completely waive off all the fees and admissions of the students so that the children could get free education.
The AAP leaders advised the Chief Minister to follow the model of the Kejriwal government in Delhi on education in government schools.