Punjab govt schools not to charge admission, tuition fee for 2020-21 academic session: CM

In a major relief to the students amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the Punjab government on Saturday announced that government schools in the state will not charge any admission, re-admission and tuition fee for the academic session 2020-21. Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh made the announcement during the edition of #AskCaptain where he also announced a cash prize of Rs 5,100 each to 335 students who have scored over 98 percent in Class XII.

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The chief minister also said the state government had already moved the court with regards to the fees charged by the private schools. "And for government schools, no fee would be charged at all for the full year," the Chief Minister said.

Provisional admission for open school students

The Chief Minister further announced provisional admission in Class XI for the 31,000 Class X students in the open school system. These students could not be promoted during the COVID crisis based on internal assessment, as no such assessment exists for them. To ensure that the students' future is not adversely affected, the state government has decided to allow them provisional admission in Class XI. However, they will be required to take examinations once things normalise, he added.

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CM responds to the plea of a shopkeeper

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 a 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.

COVID-19 situation in Punjab

Nine people succumbed to COVID-19 in Punjab on Sunday, pushing the death toll to 291, while 468 fresh cases took the tally to 12,684, authorities said. Four deaths were reported in Ludhiana and one each in Jalandhar, Ferozepur, Amritsar, Barnala and Rupnagar, according to a medical bulletin.

Out of the new cases, 155 were reported in Ludhiana, 55 in Amritsar, 40 in Patiala, 38 in Sangrur, 32 in Mohali, 29 in Jalandhar, 18 each in Barnala and Bathinda, 16 in Gurdaspur, 10 each in Ferozepur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot and Kapurthala, six each in Moga, Pathankot and Rupnagar, five in Tarn Taran, two in SBS Nagar and one each in Hoshiarpur and Mansa.

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(With inputs from ANI)