Exorbitant fee on top of complaint list by parents

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 21

The Admission Monitoring Committee, which had been formulated in the district to look into fee-related complaints in private and aided schools, has received the maximum number of complaints regarding exorbitant fees

Others relate to some schools refusing to take in students or denying admission to them due to problems regarding particulars.

On the instructions of the Principal Secretary, the Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar KK Yadav had instructed the formulation of the District Admission Monitoring Committee to look into the violations regarding admission in private and aided schools. Yadav is its chairman, District Education Officer (Senior Secondary) is the member convener of the committee, while DEO (Elementary) Massa Singh, legal advisor RTE and Parminder Kaur Pannu, councillor ward number 60 are the committee’s members.

While admissions in private, aided as well as government schools have been clouded with controversy in the recent days, the committee shall be responsible for the quick disposal of any admission-related complaints in the district.

The committee has also been asked to upload the information regarding these issues on the website of the Directorate of School, Education soon.

While the district had been rocked by irate protests against the exorbitant fees and other charges levied by private schools in the past few months, the state government is taking all adequate measures during the admissions to keep any further controversies at bay.

Government admissions

Additionally, the government sector is also not free of its own share of troubles.

While the key period for admissions at government schools shall be from July 1 to July 15 (summer holidays are until June 30), amidst reports of bogus admissions in many schools, the Education Department also needs to closely monitor government admissions.

While schools cannot strike names off record (unless a transfer certificate is provided from the school where the students shifts) or fail any students until VIII standard, there have been many reports of many schools showing excessive admissions on record, while there are very few children attending classes on ground.

However, there is flip side to this as well, some schools said the pressure from the government and the migrant population of the state (which primarily sends its children to government school) constantly being in a state of flux, has rendered them option less.

A Jalandhar-based school teacher said, “We can’t deny admission to migrant labourers or construction labourers’ children. But there are some, especially from backward, slum areas or farm labourers in villages as well, who stay for a few months in Punjab then change the state. They move without a notice or information. After a few days, we get to know a certain student isn’t even in Punjab. So how do we find their transfer certificates. So we go to UP and Bihar. In records, we can’t strike off their name, but the government eventually treats these missing children as bogus admissions.”

Sources also said some school teachers were also deliberately hiking admissions using this lacunae.