For funds, CM suggests fee from govt schoolkids

For raising funds in the cash-strapped government schools of Punjab, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has suggested school heads to collect a fee of Rs 5 to 10 per student from Classes 1 to 8.

In order to raise funds in government schools, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has suggested to school heads to collect a fee of Rs 5 to 10 per student from Classes 1 to 8.

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He said this during a visit to Government Model Senior Secondary School, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), here on Friday.

However, education is free for students of Classes 1 to 8 in government schools for the past so many years. Moreover, according to the Right to Education Act, free education should be provided to the government school students up to class 8.

To improve the infrastructure, Badal visited Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Cemetery Road; GMSSS, Model Town; GMSSS, PAU; and GSSS, Haibowal Khurd.

Badal told the authorities at Government Model Senior Secondary School, PAU, to give their land on lease, if possible, to raise funds so that the school had a regular income. The school is on the PAU campus and has been set up on the university land.

To bring national standards and benchmark of teacher quality in the recruitment process, now every teacher would have to clear the teacher eligibility test, only then he/she would be able to teach in government schools. The state was also recruiting teachers so that vacant posts could be filled in government schools, he added.