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Punjab State Education Board to impose fee on students for hard copy of board results
As per a recent Punjab State Education Board order, students of Class 8 will have to pay ₹100, while those from Classes 10 and 12 will have to shell out ₹300 for the hard copy of the certificate
Students of government and private schools affiliated to the Punjab State Education Board (PSEB) will now have to pay a fee to get hard copies of the passing certificates of their board exams.
As per a recent PSEB order, students of Class 8 will have to pay ₹100, while those from Classes 10 and 12 will have to shell out ₹300 for the hard copy of the certificate, which is essential for them to get admission into the next class or to migrate to another school.
According to the officials, the PSEB head office used to earlier send the certificates of the students to its board office at Punjabi Bhawan in the city.
“School representatives used to collect the certificates from the board office here, which were given to the students for free. Now, the board won’t send hard copies to Punjabi Bhawan, but the results will be uploaded online and the school in-charges will provide the hard copy to the students after charging the decided fee,” said an official.
A lecturer at a government senior secondary school said that parents of many students are reluctant to pay the fees and moreover, it is ethically wrong to charge from Class 8 students under Right to Education.
“There are many parents who are unable to pay the admission fees and registration charges at the moment due to poor financial conditions amid the pandemic. Now, this has added to their burden. Many students have refused to pay the fee, but they will at some stage require the hard copies, during job interviews or for admission purpose,” said the lecturer.
The principal of a government secondary school stated that the board has set a very nominal fee for the passing certificates, but students of private schools affiliated to the PSEB may be overcharged.
“The government schools will charge the fee in accordance with the rate decided by the board, but many private schools may overcharge the students. There has been a lot of hue and cry related to overcharging by the private schools in the past”, told the principal.
According to the sources PSEB is likely to increase the fees for the duplicate mark sheets or the passing certificates. For now, in case a student loses his/her passing certificate, the board charges ₹800 to issue a duplicate copy.
“A meeting was held recently, where it was hike in fees to ₹1,000 was proposed for the issue of duplicate certificates. The order regarding the same may be issued soon,” revealed a senior official.
District education officer Lakhvir Singh Samra said, “We have to follow the orders of the board and nothing can be done in this regard at my level.”
