After 3 deadlines, Education Department serves show-cause notice on 51 private schools

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 26

Acting tough on private schools for defying mandatory provisions of The Punjab Regulation of Fee of Unaided Educational Institutions Act, 2016, the UT Education Department today served show-cause notice to 51 private schools for not uploading balance sheets on its official website, confirmed Rubinderjit Brar, Director, School Education.

The schools have been asked to explain why balance sheets were not uploaded on the official website and ordered to show compliance as per the provisions of the Act by seven days.

The private schools had missed three deadlines given by the Education Department for uploading balance sheets. The first letter seeking details of balance sheets was sent on April 24 and schools were asked to submit details by April 30. On May 1, another letter was posted to schools and deadline was extended to May 8. The third letter was sent to schools on May 13.

In 2018, the Ministry of Home Affairs had extended the application of The Punjab Regulation of Fee of Unaided Educational Institutions Act, 2016, to the Union Territory of Chandigarh with certain modifications.

One of the provisions of Section 5 of the Act says that “all private unaided schools to upload their balance sheets and Income-Expenditure accounts on their respective websites.”

It has been found that many schools have uploaded their complete balance sheets and Income-Expenditure accounts on their official websites. However, very few schools have partially complied but uploaded incomplete documents.

Parents stage protest

Members of the AAP Chandigarh Youth Wing along with parents and Chandigarh Parents’ Association today protested outside St. Soldier International School for forcing the parents to deposit fees for the lockdown period. Lalit Mohan, president (Youth Wing), Joint Secretary, AAP said, “Private schools of Chandigarh are putting mental and financial burden on parents by asking for fees instead of helping them. The school management must understand that it is the same parents, who have always deposited the fees of their wards in time and have always given into all the justified or unjustified demands from these schools, be it uniforms, books or other charges.”

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